Of White Eyes and Red Clouds
by TheWriterFormerlyKnownAsNixon
Summary: A series of devastating events causes Hinata to flee from Konoha. But she soon finds herself in the lair of the former Akatsuki! But soon she will find that the criminals are not as bad as she thinks... One in particular. Deidara x Hinata Sort of an AU.
1. Prologue: Shattered

Hello one and all. It's been years since I've written a Naruto story, and all my old ones have been deleted for one reason or another. So in a way, this is my "first" Naruto story.

Now, **some important info regarding the AU of this story.**

-The Akatsuki are disbanded, but not all dead; Pain was defeated and sacrificed himself and Konan left like in the real series, but the rest of the members have survived. Zetsu does not really make an appearance in the story either; he's off on his own somewhere.

-The fight with Pain and Naruto did not involve Hinata's huge sacrificial moment; he is still somehow not aware of her feelings after the fight.

-Tobi is NOT Madara in this; Tobi is simply Tobi. Madara is not in this story.

-For age references, Naruto, Hinata, and all the others are pretty much in the 17-18 range. Meanwhile, Deidara is 19 (This is his real age actually.) Don't really know about the rest of the Akatsuki. And I'll just be having Deidara say "Hm" as opposed to "Un" or "Yeah"

-Hiashi is still a dick.

Now that THAT'S out of the way, let's begin this thing shall we? I'm sure some don't like the changes I've made, but now you can decide whether or not you want to read!

000

Disclaimer: Why would I be writing on some website if I owned this series?

It was a beautiful late afternoon in Konoha; the sky was cloudless with the sun shining brightly, choirs of birds and insects sang out, and the village was bustling with people of all sorts. The shops were full, the streets buzzing with conversation and gossip.

But not too far off from the activity, in the large forest that surrounded the village, one girl sat alone. Her lavender jacket was stained with tears; her usually kind and gentle eyes were stricken with grief and pain, red and puffy as opposed to being milky-white orbs.

Hinata Hyuga had no idea just how long she had been crying, but the tears simply wouldn't stop. She was still trying to completely process everything that had happened that day.

_**EARLIER THAT DAY**_

Hinata continued her walk to her house, hands in her pockets and head low.

_We almost failed yet another mission… Because of me…_

_Again…_

Hinata's team had just returned from an A-rank mission to apprehend some escaped fugitives from Konoha; her team was chosen for the fact that they all had great tracking abilities, as usual. However, once they finally found the fugitives (3 to be exact), a fight broke out, that during which they very nearly escaped due to Hinata slipping up in the fight. Had it not been for her sensei, Kurenai, quickly apprehending them, they would have escaped for sure.

Now while Kurenai tried to console her and convince her it was not her fault, her teammates were not quite as forgiving. Although they were still her friends, they told it to her straight; she was starting to drag the team behind.

And she knew it too.

It wasn't that they were mean about it or anything, but the two of them – Kiba especially – were usually not so blunt about that kind of stuff. They were normally much kinder in their criticism, knowing how sensitive Hinata could be. However, this time they clearly lost their patience; the fact that Hinata managed to somehow let one of them hit her from behind with her 360 degree vision was baffling ever to her. Regardless, the sudden sternness in her friends' criticism really affected her… And the worst was yet to come.

Hinata gulped as the Hyuga manor came into view.

Her father would not be pleased.

Hinata knew better than to try to lie to her father; not only was she terrible at lying, but her father always seemed to know when _anyone_ lied to him.

Hinata hesitated as she approached the door, trying frantically to think of how to word her story, when the door suddenly opened.

Hinata gasped slightly as the intimidating figure of her father loomed above her, glaring. He let out a very audible sigh.

"Back from your mission then?"

"Y-y-yes father. The m-mission was,"

Hiashi raised a hand to silence her.

"Your sensei already informed me of everything."

Hinata's eyes widened a bit as she lost her breath for a moment.

"She said she wanted me to be able to think about it more. She hoped it would calm me down more than if I heard the news straight from you," Clearly it hadn't. Sure he wasn't screaming at her, but he didn't have to. His eyes said everything.

"W-Well, can we d-d-discuss it insi-

"No."

Hinata winced; her father's tone frightened her.

"Hinata… With each passing day, your failure simply seems to grow more and more,"

Hinata couldn't even look at her father as he spoke. She remained silent.

"The amount of missions you've jeopardized is staggering. Your skills have diminished greatly and do not seem to be showing any signs of improvement." He paused. "The amount of dishonor you have brought to our clan is… Simply astonishing."

Hinata whimpered.

"You are nearly 18, and you are weak in mind, body… Nearly every aspect. Not only are you unfit to be the heiress of our clan, but… You are unfit to be a Hyuga altogether.

Hinata dared to look up at this. Never before had her father said anything this harsh.

"W-what do you-

"You are hereby banished from both our home and clan until you can prove you are actually worthy of being a Hyuga,"

The words hit Hinata like a knife straight to her gut. She could barely breath.

"F-Father…"

"Silence. Do not make me punish you further with the Curse Seal,"

"But where will I live?" Hinata quickly blurted out. Her father shut his eyes and took a breath.

"…That is of no concern to me. Now be gone,"

With that, the door was shut on her face.

The young (Former) Hyuga stood at the doorstep for a long while in silence. Tears fell from her eyes as her whole body shook.

Exiled from her clan… And this was no spout of anger, either; it was clear Hiashi had been getting more and more upset with her overtime. He would not go back on this decision until you actually proved she was worthy to him.

Hinata simply turned and began to walk away; she didn't want to incur any further wrath upon herself.

She knew she was slipping up more, that she wasn't keeping up with the others… But to banish her from the clan? She never thought it would come to this.

Where would she go? Who would she stay with? Kiba or Shino?

Hinata recalled their sterness from before. No… If they knew she was banished, it would get even worse. She didn't want to burden her friends anymore…

Her mind turned to Kurenai.

Hinata stopped for a moment.

Her sensei… Her teacher… Had been like a second mother to her all these years…

But…

She noticed Kurenai had been taking far more pity on her than ever before; it further showed just how far she had fallen.

And after what just happened… How she had told Hiashi about the mission ahead of time… Perhaps if he actually HAD been told by Hinata herself this wouldn't have happened…

No… She couldn't bear it. Kurenai was kind, but she felt so sorry for Hinata that it made her feel even more pathetic than she already did.

She continued walking, hardly paying attention to her surroundings.

Maybe she could ask Naru…

_**WHAM**_

"Hey, watch it!"

Hinata was snapped from her thoughts as she nearly fell over; she had collided with one Sakura Haruno.

"Oh my… S-sorry Sakura, I wasn't paying attention…"

"Ow…" Sakura rubbed her forehead for a moment. "Well it's not a huge deal…" Sakura stopped as she looked at Hinata's face. "…Have you been crying?"

Hinata looked away to hide her face.

"N-no… I'm fine Sakura, r-really,"

Sakura rolled her eyes; Hinata was SUCH a terrible liar.

"Don't try that. What happened,"

Hinata sighed. She knew Sakura wouldn't let her leave without telling her.

"Well… I was just talking with my father…"

_Oh boy…_ Sakura knew Hinata well enough to know about how she and her father got along…

"He… He said I've dishonored the Hyuga clan too much and… And he…" Hinata hesitated.

"What did he do!" Hinata looked down.

"…He banished me from the Hyuga home and clan," She said quickly. "Until… Until I become strong and worthy enough to be a Hyuga,"

Sakura was taken aback. She knew Hiashi and Hinata were not on good terms, but to be forced out of her own clan by her father…

It was just cruel.

"That's… That's awful," Sakura placed a comforting shoulder on Hinata's shoulder. "Do you have anywhere to stay?"

"No…" Hinata sighed. "Nowhere…"

"What about Kiba or Shino? Or Kurenai, your sensei?" Hinata shook her head.

"No I… I just couldn't..." Sakura was curious, but she didn't want to trouble Hinata anymore. "And it sounds… Dumb I know… But I was… I was thinking about asking if Naruto had any room where he lived…" Hinata's face turned a bit red as she said this.

Sakura sighed. She was worried she might say that…

"That's… That's not a good idea,"

"Huh…? Why?" Sakura looked away. "What's wrong? Did something happen to him?" For a second Hinata forgot about her situation. If Naruto was hurt…

"No, he's fine…" Sakura rubbed the side of her head a bit, trying to think of something to say.

"What's the problem then? Is there no room where he stays or something?"

"No…"

"Is it because we'll be alone? I mean I can talk to him without freaking out now…"

"Look," Sakura paused. "It's not any of that… It's just…" Sakura winced a bit; she was REALLY hoping to tell Hinata about this under different circumstances. "…I'm already staying with him right now,"

Everything around the two of them grew quiet to Hinata. A very puzzled look appeared on her face.

"…I don't understand..."

"Look, we…"

"SAKURA!" A very loud voice boomed. Hinata glanced over, smiling a bit as she saw Naruto heading towards the two of them.

"Damn it… Not now…" Sakura whispered under her breath.

Hinata's smile instantly vanished as Naruto suddenly hugged Sakura. She quickly pushed him off without saying a word.

"Hey, what's wrong… Oh…" Naruto looked over and finally noticed Hinata. "…Were you telling her…"

"No… It was about…"

"…What's going on?" Hinata cut Sakura off, her puzzled look turning to a worried one as she looked back and forth between he two. "What are you two talking about? Telling me what?"

Sakura bit her lower lip a bit. She had not been looking forward to this…

"Alright I guess I might as well tell you…" Naruto spoke up.

Sakura braced herself. She wanted to tell Naruto about Hinata's situation first, but there was no chance she was going to get a word in. He had been very adamant about telling Hinata about them for a while…

"I don't know what she was telling you but…" Naruto exhaled a bit. "Hinata, Sakura and I have kinda been… Well… Together… For a few months now,"

Time stopped for Hinata. The world around the 3 blurred.

"W…W…What?"

"Well… In secret… In fact she just moved in with me… Heh heh…" Naruto smiled nervously. "She finally gave in I guess…"

"Naruto, Hinata was just telling me her-

"And look," Naruto cut Sakura off before she could tell him. "Before that she told… Oh damn…" He could see Hinata's face beginning to turn pale. "Look Hinata don't… Look, she told me about you,"

"…M…Me?" Hinata squeaked.

She could tell what was coming; everything felt surreal to her. This was… She had nightmares about this moment…

"Yeah, and…" Naruto cleared his throat.

_Don't be too hard on her Naruto… Word it carefully…_ Sakura knew Naruto could be very VERY blunt about things.

"Well I mean you've been such a good friend to me… And honestly I'm amazed I never noticed, but… Well… I can't say I feel anything like that towards you…"

_Damn it Naruto…!_

Sakura could already see the tears forming. _She doesn't need this! Especially after what just happened!_

"Naruto, we should go and…"

"It's not that I don't want to be friends," Naruto tried to be a bit comforting. "It's nothing about you in particular, just… You're not really the kind of person for me… Something about you just is off for me and…"

Whatever Naruto said after that Hinata didn't hear.

_Something about you is just off for me…_

_Something about you is just off…_

_Off…_

"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed.

"Oh crap… No, I worded that wrong… I meant to say you're just not…"

Hinata couldn't hear them anymore; she couldn't hear anything. Or feel anything. Her entire mind seemed to shut down; her heat seemed to stop beating.

The world around her grew distorted and hazy. She felt a sadness like nothing she had ever felt before. She had always dreaded this moment.

The day Naruto Uzumaki rejected Hinata Hyuga's love.

Suddenly, without warning, Hinata bolted off.

"Oh damn it… Hinata, wait!"

Hinata didn't hear him, and even if she could, she wouldn't have cared. She simply kept running, trying to get as far away from anyone or anything as possible.

"Hinata…!" Naruto tried to chase her, but she was much too fast. Naruto groaned as he slowed down.

He knew that was going to be ugly…

"You IDIOT!" Sakura suddenly screamed in his ear, causing him to jump up several feet. "Do you have ANY idea what this is going to do to her!"

"Geez, you can be so loud…" Naruto stuck a finger in his ear. "Well… We both knew she wasn't gonna take it well, right? What's the problem?"

Sakura groaned loudly.

"You have no idea what we were talking about before you showed up… I was NOT telling him about us,"

"Then what were you talking about…?" Naruto was puzzled.

But it was too late. Even after Sakura explained what Hinata just told her, and as the two sprinted off to find her, the damage had been done.

_**PRESENT TIME**_

Hinata was alone in the Hidden Leaf Forest, a crumpled, shaking mess on the forest floor as her crying showed no signs of stopping.

To recap, her friends had lost their patience (If only for a moment.), her father had essentially disowned her and kicked her out of her own house, and the love of her life had not only turned her down and had decided to date someone else, but had said something about her was "off".

She wasn't even crying about Naruto anymore. She wasn't crying about her father or her friends. It wasn't necessarily about those events (Though they were pretty awful.) It was simply the emotional weight of all of them combined; it had shattered her fragile mind and sent her into a surreal depression unlike any other. Her entire life seemed to be falling apart in one day. Her entire life had been building up to this one day that completely shattered it.

It must have been at least an hour since she broke down in the forest, and it showed no signs of stopping. But already the idea had begun to form in her head; an irrational idea that only her irrational state of mind could think up.

By sundown, when the crying would finally cease, she would know exactly what she was going to do.

Clearly Konoha was going to bring nothing but misery for her from now on… Though she would soon remember them, in her current mindset she felt no bonds to all her friends and family; they had all hurt her; they didn't care for her.

And so, she saw no reason to be here.

000

Hiashi Hyuga sat in solitude, the fireplace before him being the only light in the room.

He had no regrets about his decision earlier; he had been patient enough with his daughter. This was the only way she had any hope of living up to her clan's name.

Of course he realized what could possibly happen to her now, but he didn't care; if she truly was a Hyuga, she would be able to take this punishment. Otherwise… He couldn't even consider her his daughter.

A sudden noise upstairs stirred him from his thoughts.

"Hm… That's coming from…" He paused as his eyes narrowed.

"Hinata's room," He rose from his chair.

000

Hiashi stormed down the hall, fuming. He had made it clear she was not to set foot in this house!

"HINATA!" He shouted as he swung the door open. "I THOUGHT I SAID…" He trailed off.

On Hinata's bed was a backpack that had been filled with all sorts of supplies, and what seemed to be a few cloths tied up with other things in them. Hinata stood before them, placing what seemed to be a sleeping bag of some sort into the backpack. She froze as he entered; the two stared at each in silence for a long time.

This was Hiashi's chance to stop her. He knew she was planning to run away, and he knew this would most likely be the last chance before they would have to send someone after her.

He could stop her now, welcome her back, forgive and apologize. His one chance…

"...Hmph,"

But no.

"Go then. Run away. Be a coward; be weak," He stepped out of the room.

Hinata continued to stare silently, unphased by his words.

"You are not my daughter."

_**WHAM**_

With that final sentence, the door was slammed shut as hard as possible.

There was no going back now.

Hinata finished the last of her packing without a word. There were no tears anymore, not for her friends, her father, not even for Naruto.

In time she would most likely come to regret this, she knew, but she didn't care; her mind was still a warped from everything that had happened.

As she she stepped towards the open window she had come through, she took one last look at her dresser.

On it was an old photo of the Konoha 12 (Including Sasuke). In the picture, Naruto happened to be right next to Hinata, beaming widely as she stood with a blush.

_**Thud**_

The photo hit the floor as she dropped it.

_**CRACK**_

With one swift stomp of her foot, the photo frame snapped in half; glass shards fell all around. With that final move, Hinata left the room.

It was dark now; nobody was out to notice or stop her. She ran past all the old buildings, each filled with forgotten memories.

Soon she was beyond the gate, beyond the training field and deep into the forest. Where she was going, she had no clue.

However, she would not be wandering for much time; before long, she would find herself in a new, much more sinister home.

Yet, in time, she would come to realize it would not be as evil as one might think…

Woo! That was a LONG prologue! So, what did you all think? Go ahead and tell me with that little review button down there. More to come!


	2. Battle in the Forest

Wow, a quick a positive reception! I'm rather touched. Now unfortunately I can't promise that every chapter will be as long as that one; that was a pretty lengthy one for me.

But enough rambling, let's just continue with the story shall we?

Disclaimer: Once again, still don't own anything.

000

"There has got to be an easier way to get food,"

"Come on, we're S-ranked criminals… Is stealing food really THAT difficult for you, hm?"

"That's not the point… Still, I must admit Konoha always has quite the selection,"

In the dark night, two figures slowly leapt through the trees of the Hidden Leaf Forest. They each wore everyday street clothing that looked old together and ragged, as well as large hats that concealed their faces very well.

"I still don't get why we always have to wear these clothes, hm," One of the figures commented.

"You know exactly why. If anyone were to ever spot us, we'd simply look like common thieves,"

"Yeah I know, but… When have we been caught? Personally I find the robes much more comfortable, hm. Besides, they're _much_ more artistic than these rags,"

"Heh… I guess you've got a point there. Of course, if YOU think they're artistic, why haven't you tried blowing them up?"

"Well as much as I hate to admit it, sometimes your stance on art is right, hm,"

The other let out a slight chuckle.

"Finally come to your senses, eh, Deidara?"

"More like I'm going insane… I must be spending too much time around you Sasori, hm,"

Deidara and Sasori continued their trek through the forest arguing about their artistic views for a little while until something caught their attention.

"Someone's close… Let's stop for a moment," Sasori said. The pair stopped on a rather thickly leaved tree, both sensing a presence nearby.

"Let me take a look…" Deidara took his hat off for a moment to reveal long, blonde hair underneath. One of his eyes was covered by said hair, which he promptly moved to reveal a sort of eye-scope.

He zoomed in with the scope as the presence drew closer. Within moments a figure quickly passed by below them as Deidara pressed something on the scope.

The pair was silent for a few seconds after the figure passed.

"Well?"

"It was a girl… From Konoha in fact, hm. Couldn't have been older than 18,"

"Odd… Why would she be out so late?"

"No idea. Didn't get a good shot of her face… But she's heading in the direction we are,"

"Think she knows about the hideout?"

"Doubtful… But just in case, we should follow, hm,"

"Why not just kill her?"

"Sasori!" Deidara looked at his partner.

"What? We're S-ranked criminals… It's not like you haven't done your share of killing,"

"Yeah but… She looked so young, hm,"

Sasori scoffed.

"So what? Not like we haven't killed an innocent person here or there. Besides, I could use another puppet…"

Deidara shuddered a bit.

"Well… Let's just follow and see what she's up to, alright?"

"Fine… But if I begin to suspect she knows about our hideout…" There was a clack of gears from within Sasori's clothes, and his hand suddenly turned into a sort of gun with several needles.

"…Alright, fair enough, hm,"

Without another word, the pair began to silently trail the young woman through the night.

000

Hinata had no idea how long she had been running for, and she didn't care. She would run all night if she had to; anything to get away.

As if that whole day hadn't been bad enough, that final moment with her father pushed her even more over the edge (If that makes sense…). Any slight chance of a second thought was now gone, and the further she got away from the village, the better.

The entire time, all the events of the day replayed themselves in her head, fueling her drive even more. Particularly the moment with Naruto…

"…Naruto…"

Hinata silently said his name, though in a much different tone than normal. Instead of the gentle and dreamy way, it was now much more mournful, like a coyote's howl in the middle of the night. Despite seeming to have disregarded everything about the village, her heart still ached; she couldn't even remember how long she had been in love with Naruto, and he just tossed it all aside with one simple sentence.

_Something about you is just off for me…_

Hinata physically winced slightly as the sentence replayed itself in her head.

_Off… In other words, different. Weird. He probably thought I was creepy or something. And who could blame him? You stalk and act so damn awkward around a guy that long and think he's actually going to CARE about you like that?_

"Or maybe it's because I'm so weak…" She muttered to herself.

_Go then. Run Away. Be a coward. Be weak._

The words stung more than an entire hive of bees.

_You are not my daughter_.

Hinata stopped moving for a moment; the memories were now flowing back up and she could already feel the tears forming. She had to stop.

000

"The hell is she doing now…?" Sasori whispered. Deidara simply looked at the scene before them with a sorrowful look.

The girl they had been tracking was now sitting against a tree bawling her eyes out.

"Poor girl, something must have really gotten to her, hm… Hey Sasori, you see her eyes?"

"Oh yes… And the protector around her neck? Leaf symbol, white eyes… Definitely a Hyuga,"

"They're one of the richest and most powerful clans in Konoha, right? Why is she all the way out her…?"

"You wanted to follow her, didn't you? So why don't you shut up and keep watching.

As if on cue, the young girl began to talk to herself.

"W-w-why am I… S-so weak…?" She blubbered. "I-I-I'm supposed to be a-a-a-an h-heiress…! W-w-why did everything happen l-l-like it did?"

The pair's eyes widened.

"Heiress, eh…? Interesting,"

"Y-Y-You really d-don't deserve to be a H-H-Hyuga… Father was right,"

"Well, lucky us… Hm,"

"She must've been exiled from her clan… But why run away from your village?"

"Maybe there's more… Huh?" Deidara turned his head.

"Well well, everyone's up and about tonight…" Sasori muttered.

The duo could sense 3 presences heading straight for the Hyuga girl.

"They're heading right for her… What do we do?"

"What do you mean? We sit here and watch. Maybe they've come to take her back,"

Deidara said nothing. He didn't know why, but he really felt sorry for this girl. She seemed innocent enough…

Regardless, he kept quiet as the three figures approached.

000

Hinata wiped her tears on her sleeves.

_Listen to yourself… Crying and wailing about what just happened for the world to hear. Nobody else is around!_

"Aw, what's the matter little lady?"

Hinata gasped, almost immediately standing up. 3 rather gruff looking men were standing before her. Hinata cursed herself for not paying attention and seeing them coming. And she has the Byakugan…

"N-nothing, just… Had a bad day," Hinata quietly said. She turned to go, but one of the trio was suddenly in her path, grinning.

"What's a pretty little thing like you doing out so late?" He asked with a menacing tone. Hinata backed away, now deeply afraid.

"You look lonely…" Another was behind her. "It's pretty dangerous out here, you know… Never know who you'll bump into,"

Hinata gulped. She was going to have to fight… These men clearly wanted something.

"A leaf ninja too… How lovely," One of the men licked his lips. "She looks so delicate…"

"Stay back…"

One grabbed her arm.

"Come on… Let's have a little fun,"

"I said STAY BACK," Hinata suddenly activated her Byakugan as she struck her holder with a rather powerful blow. He was sent barreling to the ground.

"Ooh… Feisty one," He cackled as he rose. "Alright boys… We got a fighter,"

The three surrounded her in a triangular formation, not realizing she could see all three of them at once.

"Can't fight what you can't see!" One cried as the three men charged her at once.

It was a futile attempt; Hinata gracefully dodged the three as they all charged in, deal swift yet powerful blows to their chakra points. It was like a dance; none of them could seem to hit her, even when they all attack at once from different angles.

"The hell is with this gir-augh!" One took a particularly hard blow to the stomach and doubled over.

Hinata was quite pleased; despite her recent failures, these men seemed to be very poor at combat…

000

"Hm… She's not bad," Sasori admitted. Deidara said nothing; he was mesmerized by the display before him.

000

"Alright so you wanna play that way, huh?" One quickly made some hand signs.

Oh no…

"Wind Style: Wind Sickle Jutsu!"

Suddenly, a heavy gust picked up; Hinata tried to dodge but the attack was much too. She cried out as the air seemed to cut into her skin; her clothes tore in several areas as her face and hands received several small cuts.

Damn…

Before she could react, one of the others had grabbed her arm and dealt a very harsh blow straight to her face.

"How's THIS!" He roared as he then kneed her in the gut, causing her to double over and fall to her knees. Blood dripped from her nose.

"Little bitch…" The assailant struck her across the face again. This time however, Hinata reacted; almost immediately she struck with a quick jab aimed at his midsection…

Only for her hand to be caught.

"Nice try!" He laughed as he squeezed down on her fragile hand. She screamed in pain, still recovering from the stomach and face blows as well.

000

"No… No, Sasori we gotta help her, hm!"

Sasori sighed.

"I suppose… She's probably a better person than them anyways…" He began to move his arm forward.

000

Hinata couldn't believe how easily these men had beaten her; clearly she underestimated them greatly.

The man who was holding her hand down dealt a forceful kick into her stomach. Hinata recoiled even more, clutching her stomach as she coughed up a small amount of blood. Tears leaked from her eyes as she was suddenly forced to the ground, belly-down.

"Alrighty then… I'll have first go boys, alright?" He laughed as Hinata felt the man get on top of her.

"You try to resist and you're dead," The man whispered into her ear. Hinata felt his hand reaching up her pant leg…

Suddenly, there was a small noise, and the man's weight on her seemed to lighten.

"W…What the…" Were the last words he said before he rolled off her and collapsed.

Hinata looked up to see the other two men had both collapsed as well. None of them moved.

Hinata, still shaking, rose to her feet, wincing from the intense pain she still was feeling in her stomach.

"H…H…Hello?" She choked out as she began to cough up a bit more blood.

There was no response. Hinata went to activate her Byakugan…

Suddenly, she felt a pinch in her leg. She looked down to see a small needle sticking out of it.

Then, she felt sleepy. Her body began to shake violently as her vision suddenly darkened.

"Wh…What…" She pulled the needle out, noticing it seemed to be coated in something.

"Po…Pois…. On...?"

Hinata fell to the ground as she quickly lost consciousness.

000

"Nice shooting Sasori, hm," Deidara complimented as the duo leapt from their tree.

"I suppose. Not like it was that difficult. Even you could've hit them from there,"

"Very funny," Deidara walked over to the unconscious girl, examining her.

"Bastards… Those are the kinds of criminals I can't stand, hm. At least we have a little class,"

"I'll have to agree on that one…" Sasori pulled a scroll from her clothes, and unraveled it. "But these three will make nice additions…" He made a hand sign, and suddenly the letter on the scrolls reached out and grabbed the bodies of the three men, pulling them into the scroll. In an instant they vanished.

"What about her… You didn't kill her, did you?"

"Relax, I only used a minor toxin on her. She'll come to in a few hours," Sasori assured his partner.

Deidara ripped a piece of his sleeve off, using it to wipe some of the blood from her face.

"She doesn't look too seriously hurt… A bruised eye and cut lip… Although her nose could be broken…"

"What about her stomach?"

"They didn't look strong enough to really do much damage, hm," Sasori walked over, staring at the girl. Deidara chuckled. "She's rather pretty… A real piece of art, eh…?" Sasori groaned.

"You always need to compare things to art… Although…" Sasori looked at the girl. "I guess I can agree about that as well. Not bad looking at all,"

"So what are you gonna do, hm? We can't just leave her lying here…"

"Well what did YOU propose? Don't tell me you want to take her with us?"

Deidara was silent.

"You can't be serious… We can't just bring her into the hideout,"

"Well where's she gonna go? You heard her! She's been exiled from her clan and is pretty banged up, hm," Sasori shut his eyes, sighing deeply.

"This is one of the dumbest ideas you've ever thought of… But I know you're not going to let us leave her hear unless I kill her,"

Deidara's visible eye widened.

"However… I suppose a Hyuga, the heiress to boot, could be potentially useful… We may not be an organization anymore, but it couldn't hurt," Sasori looked sternly at his partner. "However, I am NOT going to help you convince the others to let her in. If you can't get them to agree… We'll have no choice,"

Deidara's face darkened a bit.

"I realize that…" Sasori shrugged.

"As long as you understand, alright…" He paused. "What's with you and this girl…? You're usually not this kind, you know,"

"I honestly don't know…" Deidara gently picked the girl up bridal-style, careful not to touch her injuries. "Just something about her seems so pure and innocent… At least when I look at her. But I guess we'll see how she really is when get comes to,"

Without another word, the pair left the scene, leaving not a single trace of anything ever occurring there.

000

A bit of a shorter chapter I realize, but I think the chapter got its point across. What do you think? Like it? Hate it? Someone not in character enough for you? Suggestions? Let me know with your reviews! See you next time!


	3. To Kill or Not to Kill

Now while I'm aware that last update was unusually fast, I cannot promise that all my updates will be anywhere close to that fast. Still, I'll try to get them out when I can. Thankfully summer's still around… But enough rambling, let's get on with it.

Disclaimer: See previous disclaimers.

000

"Alright… Uh… It's the middle one!"

"Hmph. Wrong again; it was the right one. Now pay up,"

"Rrrr… You're rigging this, I swear! There's no way you can keep winning outta sheer skill!"

"Don't blame me for your inability to keep up, Hidan,"

Two men were sitting at a small table where 3 cups sat. The one called Hidan handed over some ryo to the other.

"Come on, Kakuzu, one more! Double or nothing!"

"Very well…" The other person, Kakuzu, lifted one of the cups and placed a small rock underneath. "Watch closely," He put his hands on two of the cups.

Suddenly, the 3 cups were a blur; Kakuzu rapidly swapped them with each other so fast they couldn't be seen. Hidan watched closely, a fiercely determined look on his face. After a few seconds the cups stopped.

"Well?"

"Rrr… Hmm….. It's the left one!" Hidan quickly grabbed one of the cups, lifting it.

His face had a blank expression.

"Wrong again, now since you said double that's another two hundre-

_**SLAM**_

Hidan jumped from his seat, slamming his hands on the table.

"YOU CHEATING PIECE OF SHIT! YOU'RE RIGGING THIS DAMN GAME AND YOU KNOW IT!" Kakuzu didn't react; he simply stared at Hidan, his green eyes unblinking. Beneath his mask, though, he was smirking.

"Just admit you can't keep up. As much as I'd love to keep taking your ryo, this is simply getting embarrassing…"

"YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH, YOU GREEDY SONUVA BITCH!" Hidan fumed. "One day you're gonna pay… Lord Jashin's gonna make sure you-

"Oh for _Jashin's_ sake, just shut the hell up!" A third voice rang out. Hidan and Kakazu glanced over. "Seriously, how on earth did you ever put up with him, Kakuzu?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out," Kakuzu rose.

"Hey… Hey! Where the hell do you think you're going? We're not done here?"

"Quiet. Your constant yelling is becoming a nuisance… I'll give you a chance to try and win your money back later," With that, Kakuzu walked off towards the third voice, which came from a large man sitting on one of the several couches near the table the others were sitting at. The man, whose skin for some strange reason was a light shade of blue, was lying on the couch in a very relaxed position, his shark-like teeth grinning as he stared at Hidan's rage-filled face.

"Grr… Just you wait, Kakazu…" Hidan muttered. He turned towards the blue man. "And for the record, Kisame, I'd appreciate if you don't use Jashin's name in vain like that," The blue man, Kisame, simply laughed.

"Oh spare me the cultist babble, Hidan… Besides, you're the last person who should be telling someone to watch their language,"

"…Alright, point taken," Hidan admitted. "…But hey, don't think I had any more fun dealing with him than he did with me! Seriously, this one time we were in a store, disguised of course, for 30 damn minutes because the shopkeeper wanted Kakuzu to pay 200 ryo more than he was planning on for some mask. 200 freakin' ryo!"

"The price tag clearly said the mask was 2400 ryo, NOT 2600," Kakuzu remarked.

"You're missing the point! We were almost caught too…"

"I did get the 200 off though," Kakuzu reminded him.

Kisame sighed. Boy he was glad he and his partner had been on better terms during their service in the Akatuski… These two just never stopped whining about each other.

"By the way, where the hell are Deidara and Sasori? I'm starving!" Hidan suddenly asked.

"Good question… They usually get back by now," Kisame remarked. "You don't think they got captured, do you?"

"Maybe they forgot how to get inside the hideout," Hidan joked.

True, the hideout was a very difficult thing to get into; not only was it very well hidden by powerful genjutsu techniques, but also by a potent seal that only the Akatsuki members knew how to remove. The hideout itself was entered through a cave, but led up to a rather large building on the side of a small mountain. It offered a rather nice view of the surrounding landscape, which also let the Akatsuki members see if any threats were near.

"I doubt either happened," Kakuzu spoke. "But they may have run into some trouble. We'll just have to wait and see,"

"Wait and see what?"

The three turned.

"Ah, speak of the devil," Kisame rose, stretching.

Sasori walked into the room, taking a scroll out from his clothing. Like the last one, he unraveled it as the symbols shot out of the paper. However, instead of taking things, they instead released several bags of groceries onto the floor.

"Alright, finally!" Hidan immediately started picking them up. "Come on, let's get these all put away so we can get actually eat,"

"Hold on, Hidan… Sasori, where's Deidara?" Kakuzu asked.

Sasori suddenly sighed as he looked down.

"…Something didn't happen to him, did it?" Kisame asked as he noticed Sasori's discomfort.

"No… Nothing happened. At least nothing to HIM,"

"Then what's wrong?"

"It's… Uh, well…" Sasori cleared his throat. "Alright, listen. Whatever happens next, whatever you guys say… I had absolutely nothing to do with this. This was all his idea,"

Now the others were just confused.

"The hell's he going on about…?" Hidan muttered.

"Alright Deidara, you can come in now,"

"Finally… This is getting a little uncomfortable, hm," Deidara's voice called out as he began to walk into the room. "Hey guys…" He said meekly.

The other three just stared at him blankly; Sasori looked away, a hand on his face. A long, awkward silence filled the room for several seconds.

"…Oh you've got to be kidding me," Kisame finally broke the silence.

Deidara stood before them, a young, injured girl in his arms.

"Deidara, what the hell?" Hidan cried. "What… What IS that!"

"…It's a girl, idiot," Kakuzu said half-jokingly.

"Well duh, I see that, but… What the hell is she doing in our hideout!"

"Look, let me explain,"

"Oh, please do!" Hidan interrupted, visibly annoyed. Deidara let out a heavy sigh.

"Alright… Sasori and I were heading back here when we noticed her heading in the same direction, hm. We thought there was a chance she was looking for our hideout,"

"Why? Tons of people pass by here without realizing we're hiding out,"

"…We wanted to be safe," Sasori suddenly commented. "I'll admit I was concerned a bit as well. Especially considering she was alone at this time of night,"

"…That's a fair point. And she was alone," Kakuzu inquired.

"Completely. Anyways, after following her for a bit she suddenly stopped… That's when he got a good look at her, hm," He paused. "She's a Hyuga,"

At this, the three perked up slightly.

"Really…? Interesting," Kisame chuckled a bit. "They've got the Byakugan, don't they…? Let's them see through genjutsu if they really try,"

"Exactly, hm," Deidara grinned a bit. "But then… It was really strange what happened next," He paused, trying to think of how to explain without sounding like an idiot. "Well… Basically she…"

"She broke down," Sasori said.

_Gr… I know I said I wouldn't help you out but… I guess I really don't want to kill her if we don't have to…_

"Yeah, that. Just suddenly started crying a bunch, hm," Deidara explained. "She said something about being exiled from her clan for being too weak or something,"

"So what, you think she was running away from her village? Konoha, right?" Kisame asked.

"I guess so… She must've left around the same time we did after collecting our groceries, hm,"

"It could be a trick, you know… She may have seen the two of you. That Byakugan gives her nearly 360 degree vision," Kakuzu reminded hm.

"Yeah, but… This seemed pretty genuine," Deidara said sheepishly. "But here's the thing; turns out she was supposedly the heiress of the whole clan!"

"What's your point?" Hidan snorted. "Who cares about that?"

"Actually," Kisame cut in. "From the information Itachi's told me about Konoha, the Hyuga clan is incredibly strict, particularly their leader, Hiashi Hyuga. I'd imagine he was extra hard on this girl is she was the heiress…"

"So she's the daughter of the leader as well as the heiress…" Kakuzu thought. "You know, the Hyuga are a powerful and famous clan… People would pay a lot of money for her…"

"Kakuzu!" Deidara snapped.

"Woah-ho… What's the matter, Deidara?" Hidan smirked. "You… You're not feeling sorry for her are you?"

"Well, I assume those injuries weren't from you or Sasori," Kisame said.

"That's right," Sasori spoke up again. "She got attacked by some trio of ninja. All male,"

"She put up a pretty good fight at first, but…" Deidara's paused. "They got the better of her… They were going to do some… Unpleasant things, un,"

"Listen to this guy… 'Unpleasant things', this coming from a former Akatsuki!" Hidan laughed.

"No I'll have to agree," Kisame said suddenly. "Sure we're criminals, but I don't think any of us have ever stooped that low,"

"Exactly…" Sasori agreed. "We couldn't just stand by and watch happen, so I…"

"I convinced Sasori to stop them," Deidara cut him off, shooting him a quick look that said "I'll handle this". "He killed them and knocked her out with some of his poisoned needles,"

"Well that's very noble and all, but that doesn't still explain why she's here," Kisame said. Deidara looked down.

"Well… I didn't think it was right to leave her there, hm… She was hurt, and after hearing how she essentially had no home…"

"Oh no… Don't tell me you want her to stay HERE," Hidan slapped his face. "You've gotta be kidding! We should just sacrifice her to Lord Jashin right now!"

"Or get someone to pay for her return…" Kakuzu said greedily.

"No!" Deidara cried, turning a bit so she wasn't facing them. "Listen, I figure we could at least patch her up…"

"Why should we? You think she'd do the same for us, huh?" Hidan rolled his eyes. "We're S-ranked criminals, Akatuski or not! We can't afford to let anyone know we're here! Get a grip, Deidara!"

Deidara shot Sasori a pleading look; Sasori simply shook his head.

"If she saw us out there all banged up, she'd either leave us to die or turn us in, you know that!"

"Actually…"

The group was quiet as yet another voice suddenly joined the conversation. Kisame looked over.

"Oh, Itachi… Perfect timing. How was your nap?"

"..Restful," Itachi Uchiha replied as he entered the room. His red sharingan eyes stared at Deidara for a moment, then to the girl, and back to him. "I heard everything…" He walked straight up to Deidara, who flinched a bit, and looked down at the girl.

"…Oh, hey…" Kisame realized. "She's from Konoha like you… Do you know her at all?"

"Actually, I do…" Itachi confirmed. "…Hinata Hyuga…"

"...Hinata…" Deidara said to himself as he looked down at her.

_What a nice name…_

"I didn't know her very well, but I did see a little of the relationship she had with her father," Itachi explained. "…Frankly, it would not surprise me in the least if he really did banish her from her clan. She also seemed rather insecure and emotional… It's highly unlikely her "break down" was an act.

"Well fine, so she wasn't looking for us," Hidan shrugged. "So what? And what did you mean when you said 'Actually' just now?" Itachi shut his eyes as he carefully chose his words.

"Hinata… Was a very kind person. I never saw her show any form of anger or hostility to anyone. Not even her own father, who showed her no affection whatsoever and was constantly insulting her… Never once did she speak against him, even in private," Itachi explained. "She was always a timid and gentle girl. If she were to come across one of us unconscious and injured, provided she was alone, I wouldn't doubt she would attempt to heal us up before doing anything else… Granted, I'm sure she would turn us in somewhere, but who wouldn't?"

There was a brief silence; Itachi was a quiet, thoughtful person; he was usually right about these kinds of things.

"But of course, it's been years since I've seen her… She may have changed. But based on what you saw, it doesn't seem like she did," He paused. "So if you ask me, Deidara's right; we should at least help her out. If she isn't so willing to accept our company, well…"

Deidara looked down. They would have to kill her, most likely…

"But we could at least help her heal. Leader's dead; we're no longer the Akatsuki. We have no reason to kill her right now,"

There was a very long pause as the rest of the group digested Itachi's words. Deidara gave him a very grateful look. Sasori smirked to himself.

_Way to go Itachi…_

"Heh… You're wise as always, Itachi… Alright, why not?" Kisame shrugged. "And who knows, maybe she WILL want to stay… We could use a woman's touch around here, it's getting a bit messy,"

"I still say we turn her in for the money… But your arguments are very logical. Very well," Kakuzu nodded.

"Eh… What the hell, you're right," Hidan sighed, admitting defeat. "But the second she tries fighting back, Lord Jashin's gonna have one more sacrifice, got it?"

"Thanks, guys," Deidara smiled.

"Here, I'll help heal her up…" Kakuzu rose. "I've had to put Hidan back together enough to know what's serious and what isn't,"

"We'll put her in my room for now, hm," Deidara said. "I'll just sleep on the couch,"He and Kakuzu turned to go.

"Well then, if that's done… Anyone wanna help with the groceries?" Hidan asked. Kisame and Sasori began helping him move bags to the kitchen.

Itachi, however, stared at Deidara for a moment.

"Hey, Deidara…"

"Hm?" Deidara turned back.

"…Tell me… Why do you have such a desire to help this girl…?"

Deidara sighed.

"I honestly am not too sure… She just looks so innocent… And something about her just makes me want to try to protect her…"

"Hmph," Itachi, for once, smiled a bit. "Well, I just hope she's still the same…"

"Yeah, me too… And hey, thanks for helping me out, hm. But… Why?"

"Well… I'd prefer not to have to kill someone if I didn't have to… Besides, I _know_ she was a gentle, innocent girl… It wouldn't be right to kill her considering we're not Akatsuki anymore,"

Deidara smiled, nodding. "Well, thanks again," He turned, following Kakuzu.

000

"…Well none of these are serious… I fixed her nose up, and her stomach wounds don't have any serious signs… But she'll have to rest for a bit," Kakuzu had just finished patching Hinata's wounds up. "The cuts all over her from that wind attack are essentially paper cuts, so there's no need to worry,"

"Thanks, Kakuzu," Deidara, who had changed into a better set of clothing, looked her over. "I think Sasori's poison should be wearing off soon, so…"

"…Hn…"

The two jumped a bit as the young girl stirred.

"Oh damn, she's waking up now… Quick, get the others," Deidara said.

Kakuzu nodded, leaving the room.

Deidara watched as Hinata eye's slowly opened…

000

_Hinata looked around. She was standing in a large, open field covered in mist. She couldn't see anything for miles._

"_H-hello…?" _

_Where was she…? The last thing she remembered was being attacked by those men, then seeing them suddenly collapse. Then…_

_That's right, she was poisoned…_

"_Am I… Am I dead…?" She asked nobody. "…Hello?"_

_Nobody seemed to be able to hear her; she was all alone._

"_I'm alone I guess…" She paused. "…Alone…"_

_That's right; she was alone before already… Her whole world seemed to reject her in one day. And now… Now she could very well be dead._

_Dead… Alone and dead, out in the middle of the forest… Nobody would probably even notice. _

_She fell to her knees, a few tears falling._

"_Oh there you go, crying again…" She told herself. "No wonder father said you were weak… You just never stop crying do you…?" _

_She sniffed, wiping her eyes._

"_And Naruto… He probably thinks you're weird because of that, too! And Kiba, and Shino, and everyone else!" She cried out. "It's probably better that you are dead!" _

"_Hey, why are you crying?" _

_Hinata stopped as a voice suddenly called out. She looked up to see a figure standing over her. She couldn't really make them out in the mist aside from the long, tied up hair. Despite that, it was a man's voice that spoke._

"_This is no place for a girl like you," The figure spoke. "Come on, let me help you out of here…" _

_The man reached out a hand. Hinata hesitated._

"_Well?" The man asked. Everything seemed to be growing brighter. _

"…_Who are you…?" Hinata asked._

"_Someone you can trust… Hm," He said._

"…_Someone I can trust…" She said softly. _

_The mist began to clear as everything grew brighter. As Hinata began to reach for his hand, the mist cleared even more as the brightness intensified. _

_Just before Hinata reached the man's hand, she suddenly was blinded by the brightness. She barely managed to catch a glimpse of the man's blonde hair and blue eyes before she was completely blinded._

000

"…lo…?"

"Mmmm…"

"…ello…?"

Hinata's eyes slowly opened.

"…Hello…?"

"…Huh…?" As Hinata's vision began to come into focus, she heard a voice.

_Weird… That voice is so familiar…_

Hinata couldn't recall the dream-like sequence she had just been in; it was all a blur.

"Hey, hello, can you hear me, hm?"

A tall man with long blonde hair was standing over Hinata. His hair covered one eye; the other was a shade of green.

"…Who… Who are you…?" Hinata said weakly. The man looked familiar, but she couldn't remember how. He couldn't have been any older than 20, maybe even 19.

"Alright good, you can hear me…" The man smiled. "My name's Deidara, hm,"

"…Deidara…" Hinata knew that name from somewhere… "Wait… I… I was in the woods… I was poisoned… Am I…"

"Dead? No. The poison didn't kill you; it only knocked you out," Deidara said.

"Knocked me… Wait, did you…?"

"Well no, my friend did. We had to knock you out after we saved you so you wouldn't spot us,"

"Save… So you were the ones…"

"That's right, hm!" Deidara smiled once more.

"But… Wait…" Hinata slowly rose a bit, wincing from a sudden sting of pain in her abdomen.

"Careful… You're still banged up from the fight, and the poison could still be affecting you a bit, hm," Deidara warned her.

"Hng… Thank you," She stopped moving, weakly looking around. "But… Where am I…?"

Deidara's face fell into a frown.

"Well… That's the part I think you won't like," Hinata's face showed confusion.

"What…? Am I back in Konoha…?"

"No… No, not that…" Deidara looked around a bit. "You're… Well… Look, promise you won't freak out too much, hm? I don't want you to hurt yourself,"

"…Where am I?" Hinata spoke up a tiny bit, now worried. Deidara took a breath.

"You're… You're in the hideout of the Ak… Well, the _former_ Akatsuki,"

There was a silence as Hinata's eyes widened.

"A…A…Akatsuki…?"

Deidara… She knew she recognized the name.

"Y…Yes," Deidara said. He decided he'd explain more after the news sunk in; Hinata was visibly shaken up.

The Akatsuki… Hinata couldn't believe her luck. She may not have been dead now, but she could very well be soon.

But… Why had the most notorious criminals and killers ever known saved and healed her…?

000

That's a good point to stop, I'd say! Ah some of the banter between the Akatsuki was fun to write! But what will happen to Hinata next? Find out next time!


	4. The Decision

Benn having a lot of work, and college is coming up in a few weeks so I've been a bit busy… But that's not going to stop me from bringing updates to you awesome readers!

000

Hinata couldn't speak. Heck, she could hardly breathe; her throat felt like it had closed up. Her face was pale and she was visibly shaking.

The Akatsuki had… Taken her…?

"Hey… Hey, are you alright?"

Hinata wasn't even paying attention to the man standing over her. Her brain was trying to completely process the situation she was in.

So… She had been banished from her clan and home, had her heart broken, ran from her village, and nearly lost her… Innocence… In the woods… And now, she had been saved and healed by the Akatsuki, and was currently in their hideout?

This day just kept getting worse and worse.

What were they going to do? Were they healing her so they could just torture her? Sell her off to someone who would kill her instead? Repeat the actions of those other ninja from before?

"Listen, you're going to be fine, hm…" Deidara attempted to give the terrified girl a comforting touch on the shoulder.

As soon as he set his arm there he regretted it.

"_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!**_"

Deidara jumped back in shock as the quiet girl suddenly let out an ear-shattering scream. He slammed his hands over his ears, contemplating sticking the tongues from his hand-mouths in them to further block the noise out.

She had been in the middle of thinking of all the things the S-ranked criminals could do to her when he touched her… It was unsettling, to say the least.

"D-d-d-don't…. Don't touch me!" Hinata squeaked, pressing herself against the bed.

"For the love of…" Deidara had to take a second to recover his hearing. He looked at her, causing her to recoil even more. "Please, just let me explain for a moment…" He stepped towards the bed.

"GET AWAY!" Hinata yelled, throwing a pillow at the blonde man. He caught it with ease, setting it down.

"Listen, I'm not going to hurt you, hm!" He said loudly.

"Well I guess she really is awake…" A voice suddenly came as the door to the room opened. Hinata yelped as a tall, imposing blue man walked into the room. She recognized him as Kisame Hoshigaki, another member of the Akatsuki organization.

She really was in their hideout… She felt her heart skip a beat.

"Seriously, Deidara, what was that?"

"She's scared out of her mind…"

"And can you blame her?" A third person walked into the room. He looked surprisingly young; even more so than Deidara. He wore an emotionless face with short, red hair. She wasn't quite sure who it was… "I think I'd be scared if I was in her situation,"

"…Little bitch… That scream almost made me drop my food!" 3 more men entered the room. Hinata felt like she was going to faint. The one who was talking had short, grey-white hair… Hidan, she assumed. Another was taller with strange green eyes that wore a mask over most of his face… Kakuzu was his name, right? And the last…

Hinata knew the last one all too well.

"…I…Itachi Uchiha…" She whispered to herself.

"Yes," He said suddenly, causing her to gasp.

He heard that?

"Little Hinata Hyuga, all grown up…" He said calmly, staring at her with his bright red eyes. They seemed to be burning into her very being; she felt even more uneasy than she did before.

She didn't move though; she was far too scared to.

Alright, we need to back up…" Deidara said. "Give her some space, hm," The group moved as far from the bed as she could; Hinata felt a bit more comfortable.

A bit.

For a while, there was no noise; the group just stared at her, and she stared back, unsure of what to do.

"…So what the hell are we all standing around for?" Hidan suddenly asked. "She probably wants to know what she's doing here!"

Hinata said nothing; she simply nodded slowly.

"Look at her… She can't speak," the red head spoke up. "Listen, we're not going to hurt you…"

"…YET!" Hidan suddenly said with a grin.

Hinata felt any color left in her face vanish when he said this. She felt woozy… She felt her vision blur.

And just like that, the poor girl fainted.

"…"

There was silence among the others.

"Well good freakin' going, Hidan!" Kisame yelled. "NOW look what you did!"

"ME! What about Itachi over staring at her like he's trying to steal her soul?"

"Oh come on Hidan, it was completely your fault and you know it!"

"Well maybe if someone actually said something instead of just staring at her in sil-

"SHUT UP!"

Everyone looked at Deidara. He was glaring with extreme malice at Hidan; the anger in his one eye was practically radiating from his person.

"It was your fault. Now shut up," He ordered. "Both of you, hm,"

"But-

"Shut up!" He repeated. "Alright… We're going to have to take this slow. So everyone out except for Sasori. This will be much easier with just the two of us,"

"Hold on," Sasori didn't look too pleased. "Why do I have to stay?"

"Because you helped bring her hear as much as I did!" Deidara yelled. "Sure I convinced you for most of it, but you still did it, hm!"

"Grr…" Sasori glared at his old partner, who glared right back.

"Easy guys…" Kisame said. "Let's not start any-

"…Fine," Sasori suddenly said. "I guess… I guess you're right. For once," He rolled his eyes. "Besides, we all heard how much luck you had trying alone,"

"Thank you, Sasori," Deidara's glare vanished as he smiled a bit. "Look, once we get her settled down you can go, hm,"

"I was planning on it…"

"I still don't get why you're going through so much trouble for this girl," Hidan cut in. "Why not just kill her right no…" Hidan trailed off as Deidara turned back to face him, his look saying everything. "…Fine, whatever," Hidan rolled his eyes. "Let's just go then. I still got food anyways…" He turned to go, as did Itachi, Kakuzu, and Kisame.

But Kisame stopped for a moment.

"Hey guys, I think I know what would help…" He said.

"What do you mean?" Deidara was interested.

"With getting her calmed down and warmed up to us… I could go wake him up,"

Deidara sighed.

"…I'd really rather not deal with him right now, hm… I got enough to worry about,"

"Deidara, come on," Sasori shook his head. "You want to help her, right? Well if anyone's gonna cheer her up around here it's him,"

Deidara sighed even louder.

"Damn it, I know… I just… Ugh," He placed a hand on his face for a moment. "How can he sleep so heavily and for so long, then suddenly have that much energy?"

"You got me," Kisame shrugged. "I'll go get him for you… Might take a bit waking him up,"

"You want one of my birds, hm? That'll wake him up…"

"…Nah. Besides I've got water, remember?" Kisame smirked, as did Deidara.

"Go get him then,"

000

_Hinata had no dreams of herself this time. No memories, no mist, no strange man… Just blackness. Blackness like her world had become to her; no hope, no love. _

_But… What was that?_

_A light?_

_A small flash appeared in the darkness; a glimmer of light in the sea of black. And it began to grow._

_Like a wildfire the light spread, cutting out the blackness. _

_This light… Was it some new hope? Some new love? What did it mean… _

…

…

Hinata had only been out for a few minutes, but she didn't realize it. Once again, she slowly opened her eyes and looked around.

It took mere seconds for her to remember her situation. She quickly sat up again, ignoring the slight pain in her stomach.

However, unlike before, there were but 2 men standing in front of her; the first one she met, Deidara, and the red haired one.

For some reason, she felt a bit calmer; maybe because the others had left?

"So you're awake already, hm?" Deidara grinned.

"Y…You… You didn't… D-do anything to me?"

"…What? Of course not," Deidara sighed. "I was trying to tell you before, we weren't going to hurt you…"

"B-but… That one…"

"Hidan?" The red head spoke. "He's got a sick sense of humor… He was just trying to scare you… Obviously it worked,"

Hinata couldn't hold back a tiny blush as she looked down.

"Fainted just like that hm," Deidara added, still smiling.

Hinata didn't understand… For S-rank criminals, these two men were awfully polite…

"Now… How about we start from the beginning," the red head said. Hinata looked up confused. "See, we happened to be the ones that found you,"

Hinata's eyes widened a bit.

"So… Y-you… You saved me?"

"Well, mostly me… He just told me to," the red haired one pointed out.

"Hey come on, Sasori, give me some credit," Deidara complained.

Sasori… That was his name?

"W-w-wait…" Hinata interrupted quietly. "Y-you're… Sasori?"

"Yes… What of it?"

"B-but… In all t-the pictures I've seen of you y-y-you're never…"

"I'll explain that later. But for now, yes, I am that same Sasori," He said quickly. "Now then… Let's get a few things straight. We only found you because we happened to be returning here from a... Well, let's just say it was an urgent mission,"

"You could just say it was an errand, hm," Deidara joked.

"…Fine, YOU want to explain?" Sasori growled.

"Alright, alright… Well, regardless of what it was, we were heading back here when he happened to notice you heading in the same direction… And considering how late it was, we were a bit concerned you were actually searching for us, hm," Deidara explained.

Hinata looked down, sighing.

"R-really…?" She asked softly. "I… I wasn't… H-honest, I…"

"Hold on," Deidara held a hand up to quiet her. It was then Hinata finally noticed the mouth on the blonde's hand. While she had seen them before in pictures of him, she still was visibly affected.

"What's wrong… Oh," Deidara put his hand down. "Hold on a moment…" He quickly made a few hands signs, then held his arm up again. "That better?"

The mouth, much to Hinata's relief, had been vanished.

"We'll explain later," Sasori repeated. "Anyways, what he was going to say is that we saw you crying… We heard some things. Is it true your clan exiled you, and you fled your village?"

Hinata didn't answer for a good while as she once again recalled her father's cruel words. She hung her head down.

"…Yes… Yes, I was ban... Banished from my clan... And my home," She paused. "And yes, I did flee my village…"

She wasn't prepared to tell them why; besides, they were still Akatsuki… Right?

They were still looking the tailed beasts… Right? So if she mentioned Naruto…

"Heh… A runaway ninja, just like us!" Deidara joked with a chuckle.

"I am _not_ like you!" Hinata blurted out with surprising vigor. The other two were taken aback by the sudden outburst.

Hinata looked away from them folding her arms close to her chest.

"I..I…I'm sorry…" She bit her lip a bit. "I-It's just… You're… You're S-ranked criminals… A-Akatsuki…!"

"Former Akatsuki," Sasori corrected her. Hinata looked up.

"It's true we're still wanted criminals, sure… But the Akatsuki no longer exists. Our leader was defeated and killed by your village. We no longer pursue its goals,"

"…Then why…"

"Why are we living together?" Deidara cut in. "Well that's easy; we've all known each other so long, and it's kind of tough for a bunch of S-ranked criminals to settle down anywhere, Akatsuki or not, hm," He explained. "Really, we're the only ones we can rely on… Plus, for the most part, we're fairly good friends with each other at this point…"

"…Friends…?"

"Yeah, you heard him," Sasori shook his head a bit as he placed his hand on his forehead. "You seem to think we're all a bunch of emotionless, bloodthirsty monsters who kill everything I sight… Now I'm guessing that's what they taught you all about the Akatsuki, but look… We're human. We're not mindless killers. We can be kind to people if we really have to. Do we do it often? No. Do we kill people? Of course, but not without a reason. I'm not going to sit here and justify killing with you, but we don't just do it for fun…" Sasori almost seemed offended by Hinata. "Honestly, if we WANTED to kill you, we would have done it by now,"

Hinata was stunned, as was Deidara. He didn't expect Sasori to get so involved in this…

"…I…I'm so sorry…" Hinata stammered. "I didn't… I didn't mean to offend you…" Sasori sighed.

"No, I understand… They teach you that we're pure evil so you have no issues killing us if you find us. I'm just setting the record straight… Of course, we're still criminals and are far from perfect, but still… I mean, would a bunch of mindless murders save you and heal you?"

Sasori let out a loud sigh, collecting himself.

"Anyways… As we were saying… We say those 3 ninjas show up to attack you, hm. Now we watched for a bit to see how you'd do…" He paused, but then smiled. "It was pretty impressive,"

Hinata looked away, hiding her blush. Did… Did a former Akatsuki just COMPLIMENT her on her fighting skills? An AKATSUKI?

"I must admit, for someone of your appearance you fought very well. No doubt you've made good use of that Byakugan of yours…" Sasori added.

"N-no…"

The two criminals looked at each other, confused.

"I'm… I'm no good at fighting… I-I'm weak…" Hinata was practically echoing her father.

"What?" Deidara was a bit surprised at her response. "No,no… You were able to hold back 3 ninja for a decent amount of time, hm,"

"And then… Then they got me…"

"It's not surprising. For one person to take on 3 others takes an extraordinary amount of skill," Sasori said."Based on their fighting, I'd say they were all chunin,"

"…Chunin…?"

"Well I don't know for sure, but they were not the weakest ninja I've ever seen… So you may not be at a level of others you know, but you still have quite a bit of skill for someone your age," Sasori assured her.

"…You… You really mean that?" Hinata was amazed; she had almost never been complimented on her combat abilities before, especially recently.

"Yeah… Of course to us, you were sloppy in a lot of places and made a lot of mistakes we wouldn't have, but we're S-ranked criminals and former Akatsuki… Most people are obviously not at our level, hm," Deidara laughed a bit.

And for the first time that entire day, Hinata's lips turned into a smile.

"Th…Thank you…"

"Hey look! Finally, a smile!" Deidara cheered. Sasori smirked to himself.

_Wow… This is going surprisingly well… Perhaps she will be willing to stay after all…_

Hinata was amazed at how kind these two were being… Heck, they were being nicer than most of the people she knew in her village were usually to her!

Of course, in the back of her mind she realized it could all be an act… But for the moment, she was enjoying herself. They really weren't heartless…

"Anyways, after you got overtaken, Sasori here got your attackers with some poison," Deidara continued the story.

"I also hit you, but with a non-lethal one," Sasori added. "Then… Well then was the tough part. To be honest, at first I wanted to leave you there; we had no reason to bring you in. But Deidara…" He looked at the blonde. "For some reason he wanted to take you back and heal you up. Not sure why… But he convinced me, and the others, to help you… And here we are,"

Hinata was amazed. She looked at Deidara.

He… He WANTED to help her? Someone he had never met?

"I still don't know why, really… I just felt sorry for you enough, and didn't want to leave you all banged up like that, hm," Deidara admitted.

"But wait..." Hinata questioned. "Why… Why not just take me to another hospital?"

Deidara's eye widened.

"…I… I didn't think of that…" He slapped his face, cursing his stupidity.

"I did," Sasori replied. The two others looked at him. "I just didn't mention it, for two reasons. For one, we heard you were fleeing Konoha, and that has the only hospital nearby… I figured you wouldn't want to go back. Second, I didn't want to risk being caught anyways… So I didn't bring it up," He looked at Deidara. "Funny, I figured you were at least smart enough to think the same,"

"Oh shut up," Deidara rolled his eyes.

These two… The way the bickered… It kind of reminded Hinata of her old friends…

"Heheheh…"

Hinata held her hand over her mouth immediately. The two former Akatsuki looked at her, then back at each other.

"Well, looks like we made her laugh too," Sasori said.

"Looks like it,"

_**BANG BANG BANG**_

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door, causing them all to jump.

"Deidara! Sasori!"

Deidara's face fell.

"Damn it…"

"Heh… Looks like he's here,"

Deidara went to the door. Hinata was confused; this voice was new to her.

"Alright… Now, if you had any doubts left about our ability to be, well, nice… Get ready to lose them all, hm,"

With that, Deidara turned the door knob.

Almost immediately the door was thrown open as a new person bolted into the room; Deidara was nearly smashed into the wall.

"YAY! New girl is up!" The new person cried happily, his arms waving in the air.

Unlike the others, who were wearing fairly standard clothing, this one was wearing what appeared to be pajamas. With a night cap to boot.

Oddly enough, they looked a little wet…

Other than that, the only odd thing about him was his face… Or rather, his lack of a face. Instead he wore an orange mask with black swirls that spiraled around a hole where his right eye was.

"Wow, she's pretty!" The man... Yeah, he was old enough to be a man by the looks of it, said.

Hinata, once again, had to hide her blush. But after that the man bolted up to the bed, right beside her. Hinata flinched, still a bit uneasy about having someone this close. Plus, she didn't know anything about him.

"Hi!" He greeted happily. "I'm Tobi, and I'm a good boy! What's yours?"

Hinata blinked a few times, a confused look on her face. A good boy…?

"H-Hinata… Hinata Hyuga…"

"Hinata? That's a cool name!" Tobi got up and started running around the room. "Hinata! Hinata! Hinata!" He chanted over and over. Hinata couldn't hold in a few giggles; this one was incredibly goofy and light-hearted…

This was… This was a former Akatsuki?

"ENOUGH," Deidara shouted after a little, clearly annoyed.

"Aw…" Tobi looked down. "Sorry Deidara…"

"Yeah whatever, hm…" Deidara sighed. Sasori just shook his head.

"So where did Hinata come from?" Tobi asked, moving close to her again.

"I…"

"We just went over this…" Sasori said. "We'll tell you later,"

"But Tobi wants to know NOOOOW!" Tobi whined.

"Look…" Hinata spoke, her voice a little stronger than it was before. "I'll tell you it all later, okay?"

"But…"

"I know you want to know now… But I promise, I'll tell you later," She smiled.

She couldn't see his facial expression, but Tobi jumped up and twirled around after she said this.

"Okay!" He accepted. "But you gotta promise!"

"I promise…"

"Yay!" Tobi clapped, but then stopped and looked at her for a moment.

As Deidara watched, he couldn't help but feel a tiny bit… Jealous. Tobi was making her cheer up much more than they were…

"So… Will you be Tobi's friend?"

"Wha… Um… Yes!" Hinata smiled again.

"WOOHOO! TOBI HAS A NEW FRIEND!" Tobi suddenly jumped up with a huge cheer. "I gotta tell the others!"

And with that, he bolted out of the room just as fast as he had come in.

Deidara was holding his head in his hands; Sasori simply shook his heads with a smirk on his face.

"Lock it, hm,"

Sasori shut the door and promptly locked it. Hinata sat up a bit more, still smiling.

"…Wow… He was…"

"Oh we know," Deidara sighed. "And no, none of us know how he's an S-ranked criminal… Not much info on him. But he wanted to join the Akatsuki and he followed orders so…" Deidara shrugged.

Hinata had never felt this happy in a long while… She was astonished that a bunch of high-class criminals were making her feel this good. ..

"Now then," Sasori suddenly said. "Let's get to it then, shall we?"

"Huh…?"

Deidara nodded at Sasori, looking at her with a much more serious face.

"Alright, Hinata, we're done getting you warmed up a bit… Now, we need to talk,"

Hinata was silent, but she had a feeling she knew what this was going to be about.

"Now, despite what you just saw, we are still S-ranked criminals. You understand that, right? We're wanted practically _everywhere_," Sasori said.

"…Yes…"

"Then, I hope you understand your situation here… You are in our hideout. You know we are near Konoha, and are all alive and together…" He continued. Hinata knew what he was about to say.

"What he's saying is… Well… We can't really let you leave, hm,"

Hinata was quiet for a moment.

"I…I understand…" She said after a bit. "You don't want me… You don't want me telling others,"

"Exactly," Sasori said. "And we simply cannot trust you to never speak of this, no matter what. And remember, we're still killers and you know it. I know I said we're not bloodthirsty and mindless, and that we can be kind, but you still probably realize we can be cold and ruthless too,"

"Sasori…"

"No Deidara. We need to be realistic here and you know it,"

"…Yeah, I know…"

Hinata's happy mood was starting to vanish a bit.

"So, you have a decision to make here," Sasori said. "You can either stay here with us now – us, the former Akatsuki, S-ranked criminals; thieves, spies, killers… The worst of the worst…" He paused. "You can live among us, stay here with us, have a new home… Or..." He paused again. "I think you know what your only other option will be,"

Hinata gulped.

"I… I get it," She stammered nervously.

"Good. Now, we'll give you some time to think on it. But you need to decide soon," Sasori finished. He looked at Deidara. "Come on, let's let her think,"

"…Yeah, hm," Deidara looked a bit depressed. He looked at Hinata with a slightly pleading look as they unlocked the door and left, shutting it.

"…You think she'll choose to stay?" Deidara asked.

"No idea… But if not…"

"I know," Deidara quickly said, not wanting to think about it.

"Let's just wait…"

000

Hinata mind was racing. Living with the old Akatsuki? Could she really allow herself to do that? Living among criminals and killers?

But… They clearly were capable of a little kindness… Like Sasori said, they were human…

Hinata's thoughts drifted back to the events that had occurred in Konoha. And not just the ones from that day; lately her relations with her friends was getting a little strained. Despite the Akatsuki's compliments, Hinata was still advancing slower than her friends, and it was wearing on their friendships just a bit… Hinata feared it could eventually break them if she didn't shape up. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be happening… She just wasn't getting better fast enough. Kurenai's training was helping a tiny bit, but not much. And her father's training… He tried to make it tougher and tougher, to get her to work harder, but it never worked…

"_You are weak… Unworthy…"_

"_You are not my daughter…"_

Hinata winced yet again at those words.

And Naruto…

…

She didn't even want to think about that right now.

Her thoughts quickly turned to what had just happened before she could break down again.

The Akatsuki… They were so much nicer… Those 3 at least. It was amazng. She hadn't felt that happy in a long time! Tobi was just so silly, it was adorable. And Sasori… He was a bit stern, but he seemed nice enough…

And then... There was Deidara. Deidara… Hinata didn't know why, but there was something about him that really interested her. Maybe because he was the one who strove so much to do all this.

He clearly cared about her, even if it was just a little… And he didn't even know her.

A smile appeared on her face.

And the others… There were 4 more, and who knows? Maybe they all were at least kind of nice…

Plus… Her only alternative was…

Hinata gulped, shuddering.

But still… Could she spend what would likely be the rest of her life with these people…?

000

It had been about 15 minutes since Hinata was left alone to think.

The door suddenly opened, startling her from her thoughts.

"Hello?" Deidara spoke as he and Sasori came in. "Just wondering how you were doing, hm,"

Hinata suddenly smiled.

"I've decided,"

"…Already?" Deidara was a bit surprised.

"If you need more time, it's no problem…"

"No, it's fine," Hinata had much more confidence this time as she spoke. "I feel like I should go with my first decision anyways…" Suddenly, she slowly rose to her feet; Deidara went to help her. "No… Please, I'm fine," She said. "Just a bit sore in my stomach area… I'll be fine,"

Sasori couldn't help but smile a bit. She was a bit tougher than she seemed… Maybe their talk did something?

"Anyways…" Hinata took a breath, closing her eyes for a moment. "I've decided…

Her eyes opened as she looked right at them.

"I'll stay," She said very simply. Deidara's face brightened up almost instantly while Sasori let out a slight laugh.

"…You're certain?" Sasori asked.

"…Yes…" She paused. "In fact… I know it sounds strange, but… I think I'd want to stay…" She paused. "I'd want to stay even if I could leave,"

The look on Sasori and Deidara's faces were of pure astonishment.

"…Wha… Seriously?" Hinata nodded.

"…Wow…" Sasori was stunned. "Well… Either way, I guess you're staying then,"

"Um… Heh…" Deidara blinked a few times. "That's… Fine I guess… Alright, let's… Let's go tell the others, hm,"

Sasori, still a bit shocked from that answer, left. As Deidara turned, Hinata grabbed his arm.

"Wait…" He turned. "Um… You know, a lot of the reason I want to stay that much is… Well… You saved my life and took me in… And you've never met me," She stopped, looking down. "Th…That means a lot to me… Thank you…"

With that, she left without another word. Deidara stood for a moment absorbing those words.

…"What a real work of art... Hm…"

000

Whoo… Finally done. And I know, there's kind of an irony to Sasori talking about the Akatsuki being human. But I felt it fit well. Anyways, please leave your reviews!


	5. Meeting the Group

Welcome back everyone, I… Wait, how long has it been? A year?

Yes I am quite aware of the random hiatus that occurred. School got in my way for a little while, and I ended up, well… Forgetting about the story. Not too long ago, though, I suddenly remembered "Oh right, that story…" So here I am, hopefully for a bit longer. Let's get to it then, shall we?

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"…And that's why immortality isn't always a good thing. At least anyone else would have drowned first," Hidan said, wrapping up the story to the other members sitting at the table.

"But… But how did get out of it?" Tobi, clearly the most interested in the story, was on the edge of his seat,"

"As luck would have it, some guy caught the damn thing," Hidan was trying to hold back laughter. "Imagine his surprise when he heard me inside! He managed to cut the bastard open, and out comes Hidan!"

Tobi and Kisame shared a laugh while Kakuzu smirked behind his mask. If Itachi was amused, he didn't show it.

"The great Hidan, almost done in by a fish…" Kakuzu muttered.

"A BIG fish. Swallowed me whole," Hidan pointed out. "Thankfully I was covered in so much shit he didn't recognize me. So I was able to get back to Kakuzu here,"

"And the smell you gave off almost cost us the mission,"

"Hey, YOU try getting eaten some time. It's not exactly a perfume store in..."

Hidan trailed off as he noticed Sasori walk into the room.

"Sasori! You missed Hidan's story, he-

"Hold on, Tobi," Kisame interrupted. "This is important, remember?"

"…Oh yeah,"

"Yeah, what's the word? Do I have a sacrifice sitting up there or not?"

"Can't say you do," Sasori shook his head. "She's decided she wants to stay here,"

"WOOHOO!" Tobi raised his arms in triumph, excited about having a new friend around. Hidan seemed a bit disappointed. Kakuzu shrugged.

"Can't say I agree with it… But if she wants to stay, I guess I'll manage,"

"Hey, come on. This could be fun!" Kisame seemed more excited than Kakuzu and Hidan. "Besides, you could probably get you some of her family's wealth…"

"Hm… You have a point,"

"See? Positives," Kisame grinned. "Like I was saying before, I think we need-

A small sound cut him off. They group all looked over to see Hinata standing in the doorway.

"Um… H-hello…"

"Ah, speak of the devil!" Kisame's grin grew. "Our newest member has arrived!"

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The small bit of confidence Hinata had upstairs vanished when she walked into the room (Which appeared to be a kitchen). Tobi, Itachi, and the 3 other men from before were all sitting at a large table with Sasori standing nearby.

"Um… H-hello…" Seeing the entire group of criminals at once was a bit too much for her; sure she felt somewhat comfortable with Tobi and Sasori, but the others…

"Ah, speak of the devil!" Kisame, the largest of the group, flashed a grin (Which showed, to Hinata's discomfort, rather sharp teeth). "Our newest member has arrived!"

"Ah, I see you've come to meet the others," Sasori remarked.

"Well, I… Um…"

"Yes, have a seat," Kakuzu interrupted. "We didn't get a chance to get formally acquainted before…" Kisame shot a look at Hidan. "Because _some_ people here don't seem to get how to treat guests,"

"What!?" Hidan. "Not my fault I can scare people shitless so easily,"

"Oh, must you use such language Hidan?" Kisame rose, his immense height becoming more apparent. He motioned to Hinata "We are in the presence of a lady now. Show some respect,"

Hidan scoffed.

"And an heiress, no less," Kisame approached the young Hyuga. She recoiled a bit as he towered over her, but this quickly changed when he suddenly bowed. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Hyuga," He smiled. "Kisame Hoshigaki at your service,"

"Kiss-ass," Hidan muttered. Hinata blushed at the sight of such a notorious criminal bowing respectfully to her.

"I-I…" She cleared her throat, bowing as well. "I-it's nice… Nice to m-meet you, Kisame… B-but… Just c-call me Hi-Hinata…" She paused. "A-and… I'm not an h-heiress… not anymore,"

"That's right, Deidara and Sasori said something about being exiled," Kakuzu commented. Hinata mentally flinched at the mention of this.

"Hey come on Kakuzu, I doubt she needs to be reminded," Hidan spoke up. "Name's Hidan, by the way,"

"Kakuzu,"

"And… Well I believe you and Itachi have met before," Kisame pointed out.

"Well… N-not recently, b-but…"

"Oh for Jashin's sake, can you PLEASE stop with the stuttering!" Hinata winced as Hidan suddenly shouted. "Honestly, do you have any idea how annoying that is?"

"Not as annoying as you, hm," Hinata felt some of her tension ease a little at the sound of Deidara's voice. The blonde entered the room, glaring at Hidan. "Besides, can you blame her? You think you wouldn't be acting like that if you were surrounded by some of the most wanted men around?"

"Hmph. Still annoying,"

"Yeah well deal with it, hm,"

"…Anyways…" Kisame tried to change the subject. "You've been out all night, you know. You must be hungry,"

"Oh… Well, um, no I d-don't really f-feel…"

_Grrrrrrrrrr…_

Hinata's face turned beet-red as her stomach loud out a very audible growl. The entire room filled with laughter, only embarrassing her more.

"O-oh… Oh my, I…"

"That sounds pretty hungry to me," Sasori smirked. "Come on, have a seat,"

Hinata quickly found a seat between Sasori and Deidara, feeling slightly more comfortable with them around.

Still, she was already starting to warm up to the others a bit… Well, mostly Kisame. And of course there was Tobi…

"Here, eat up," Hinata was handed a plate of pancakes and eggs which, to her surprise, smelled fairly good. She cautiously took a bite.

"…Mm!" Tasted fairly good too (Who knew wanted criminals could cook?"

"Fresh mix from Konoha…" Deidara chuckled. Hinata looked at him with a confused look. "What do you think we were doing when you found you, hm?"

"W-wait… This is s-stolen?"

"Well it's a little tough for us to go out grocery shopping," Hidan joked.

She was already feeling like a criminal…

"So," Hinata froze up a bit as Itachi finally spoke. "It's been years since I last saw you, Hinata… How have things been?"

Hinata sighed.

"W-well… You all kn-know I was exiled from my c-clan at this point…" She said.

"Yeah… Must be rough," Hidan admitted.

"Yeah, why did that happen?"

"…Because I-I wasn't… Wasn't strong enough to b-be an Hyuga,"

"The hell does that mean?"

Hinata paused, trying to find the right words. After a moment, she proceeded to explain her history with her father; how she initially began earning his approval before Pain's invasion and improving herself greatly… Then, how she began to fall behind the others. How she her father's expectations grew beyond her skills. How his patience began to run out, how she nearly failed mission after mission for stupid reasons…

"...Damn," Hidan was even a bit taken back by the story.

"Having to live up to such a powerful clan's expectations… And as an heiress no less," Itachi spoke. "The Hyuga clan is quite strict about things like this…"

"Y-yes… Very strict," Hinata sighed. "B-but… That's not the only reason I left,"

"Hm?"

"M-my friends… They were s-starting to also get im-impatient… Not that I-I can blame them…"

It hadn't just been that last mission; training hadn't been going so well either due to her lack of improvement. And the rising tension between her and her father was making her a lot more stressful around her friends, which was getting on their nerves.

"Impatient? So what? I annoy these guys all the time and you don't see me running away," Hidan commented.

"Yes, b-but… I-it's been going on f-for months…"

"But that isn't all, is it?"

Hinata looked at Itachi, trying to avoid looking right into his eyes.

"W-well, no…"

Hinata could tell Itachi knew…

"I assume something happened with Naruto?"

Kisame nearly spat his drink out.

"Wait, Naruto? You mean the nine-tails kid? What does he…"

He stopped as he saw tears in Hinata's eyes.

Hinata's crush was quite obvious even back when Itachi was still a member of the village… Of course, it was more puppy love then, but it was still there.

The Akatsuki weren't idiots; they were able to put 2 and 2 together.

"I see those feelings you had for him did not wane,"

She nodded.

Hinata didn't break down; she was sick of that. She merely cried softly as she explained how her heart had been broken the day before.

"…Off, he said…" She sobbed quietly. "All these years, and that's all he could say…"

"…Asshole," Hidan shook his head. "Complete asshole,"

"Makes sense now," Sasori stated. "Why you ran away,"

"Yeah, all that shit happening at once?" Hidan agreed. "I mean, compared to some of the shit we've been through it's not so bad but…"

"Hey come on Hidan, we've had very different lives compared to hers," Sasori pointed out. "Konoha is a relatively peaceful place…"

The Akatsuki members understood that despite her experiences being very tame compared to theirs, they were quite devastating compared to the rest of her life… Easily enough to make her run away.

"Well look, Hinata, you don't need them anymore, hm," Deidara tried to assure her.

"Yeah… We take care of our own here. And as far as we're concerned, you're one of us now," Kisame grinned again.

Hinata felt some of her grief vanish at this. Sure, they were thugs, killers, and thieves… But… They still were welcoming her like honest friends.

And for the first time since entering the room, Hinata smiled.

"Th-thank you…" It wasn't just Deidara and Sasori now… She was starting to feel like she could actually live with these men.

"Damn right," Hidan's opinion of her had seemed to changed completely. "And it's about time we got another woman around here… Ever since Konan left, this place has become a damn sausage fest,"

…_Sausage fest…?_

Hinata couldn't help but giggle.

"Hey, a smile AND a laugh!" Kisame exclaimed. "Finally lightening up a little,"

Hinata was surprised at how quickly she seemed to be adjusting… Why didn't it feel stranger to her to know she was going to be likely spending the rest of her life with these men? To be living like a fugitive? That she was essentially starting a new life?

She looked around. Kisame, Sasori, Hidan, Tobi… They all seemed like fairly normal people. Even Kakuzu and Itachi, who seemed a bit colder, didn't give off a hostile feeling…

And Deidara…

Hinata wasn't sure what it was, but she felt something different with him. Maybe it was because he was the one who convinced them to save her life and spare her?

These men… They were already feeling like… Like friends to her.

"Hey, Hinata?"

"Hm?" Hinata was shaken from her thoughts.

"You seem done eating, and we've all gotten acquainted here… Why don't I show you around, hm?"

"Oh… Um, sure," She was curious as to what this "Hideout" was like…

And with that, Hinata and Deidara left the room. Kisame chuckled.

"Things are going to be a lot more interesting around here…"

"I'll say," Hidan agreed.

"Agreed," Kakuzu said. Itachi simply nodded.

Sasori, though, simply watched the pair leave. A small smirk was on his face.

_Why were you so insistent on helping this one out, Deidara…? Why indeed…_

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Alright, that may not have been the most exciting chapter, but I needed to set up the interactions a bit. Hopefully as the days go by more fun stuff will happen! And what of Konoha? What will they do once they realize Hinata has left? Stay tuned and find out!


	6. Tour

And I'm back again, this time without a huge hiatus! Let's not waste any time, shall we?

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"Now, that was the dining room. The doorway you say on the other side of the room led to the kitchen and laundry room, hm," Deidara explained as he began the "tour" of the hideout. He and Hinata were now standing in a large room with several couches and chairs around a table and a large TV. The TV had a shelf next to it with a substantial amount of films and books on it. There also appeared to be a card table with a cabinet. There were 2 other doorways besides the kitchen.

"Here's the den. We got a working TV with some movies and books as you can see. Cards and games over in that cabinet… Careful of playing with Kakuzu though, hm. He's amazing at taking people's money…" Hinata giggled a little at this. "That doorway leads to the entrance. We've got some seals protecting it, inside and out"

"Wait… So I'm trapped in here?" Hinata asked with a confused look.

"Well… Yeah, for now… It's for security, you see, hm," Deidara stammered. "We…We wanted to make sure you didn't go sprinting off, heh…"

"…I suppose t-that's fair…" Hinata seemed a bit offended at the prospect of literally being trapped, despite her general willingness to stay.

"L-look, we'll teach you how to break and re-make the seal soon… Once you're used to this, hm,"

"I understand…" Hinata said as she sighed. "Um… I-If you don't mind me asking, where exactly are we anyways?"

Deidara couldn't help but note Hinata's stuttering was practically gone at this point.

"Well, we're in the side of a small mountain. The hideout itself is sort of imbedded in it… Hidden by a good amount of strong genjutsu, hm," Deidara explained. The entrance is actually a cave also sealed and hidden that leads up to the hideout,"

"W-wait… So we're just in a mountain?" Hinata was confused.

"I'll explain how the hideout works later… It's a bit confusing. Let's just say we've had to move it a lot…"

Hinata's puzzled look only grew.

"…Anyways, the entryway also has the stairs leading to the next floor. We'll go up there in a bit, hm. There's also a basement, but you don't really need to see that. We just keep all our extra crap down there," He motioned to the third doorway. "Let's show you the training area first,"

Training…

Hinata hadn't even thought about this… Of course she still needed to keep herself in shape and everything…

Deidara opened the doors to show a hallway with 4 other doors.

"That's a bathroom," Deidara didn't bother opening the first door. "This…" He opened the second "Is the gym. This is mostly for general workout stuff, hm," The room was full of weights, bikes, and other similar equipment. "Pretty standard. This…" He moved to the door across from the gym "Is our combat practicing area," This room was a larger than the gym. It was divided into 2 sections; one with a large variety of training dummies and targets, and a large open space likely for sparring. There was also a door in the corner.

"Now that's where we keep all the practice equipment. Wooden swords, throwing weapons, that sort of stuff," Deidara continued. Hinata was quite surprised at how much there was to work with.

_Maybe they'll be able to train me better than Kurenai or father could…_

"And my favorite…" Deidara opened the final set of doors at the end of the hall.

Hinata gasped a bit. Before her was what appeared to be a large forest.

"What… How is this…"

"Former members of ours had a way with plants… Made this whole area for us before he left on his own. It somehow keeps itself alive despite not being regularly watered, hm…" Deidara explained. "There's a clearing with a sort of lake down the path here… Well, it's basically a pool but you get the point,"

"But… Why is this in the training area?"

"Stealth and movement. Field training. That sort of thing, hm… But it's also a good place to unwind and relax without having to risk heading out," Deidara looked at Hinata, seeing astonishment and wonder on her face. "You like it, eh?"

"It's… Well, unbelievable… But it looks enormous… Doesn't this cause the hideout to stick out?"

"Hmhmhm… This is the part _inside_ the mountain, you see," Deidara seemed amused at her confusion. "Like I said, it's a special hideout… I'll explain later,"

"But…"

"No buts! Let's finish the tour first, hm," Deidara grinned, clearly enjoying keeping the information from her. Hinata's annoyed face only served to amplify this enjoyment.

_You know… For such an expert ninja and notorious criminal, he can be rather… Immature… _

_Kind of like Naruto…_

…

_Wait, what?_

"Hey, you coming or what?" Deidara's voice shook her from her thoughts before she could fully realize what she just said to herself.

"Sorry, sorry…" She quickly followed behind her guide as they headed back to the den and into the entryway.

"Now for the upstairs… Then we can get your room set up, hm,"

The upstairs seemed fairly standard. It consisted of a single carpeted hallway with many doors on both sides.

"There are 2 bathrooms right here. We got a sort of emergency exit at the end of the hall there. Leads to another cave on the mountain. The rest are everyone's rooms. There's mine, Sasori's, Tobi's, Itachi's, Kisame's, Hidan's, Kakuzu's…" He pointed out each one as they walked down the hall. "We also have a few leftover rooms from when we had a few more members, hm," He walked up to one of the 3 remaining doors. "This room's got the best window view of the three, so you'll probably want it," He suggested, opening the door. The room was nice; there was a bed with a nightstand, a desk, some shelves, a dresser, and a closet, all of which were bare/empty. A pair of windows showed the large stretch of land the mountain overlooked.

"So, what do you think?"

"It's quite nice…" Hinata was secretly worried she would be stuck in some cramped, dingy crevice.

"The things you were carrying are all in my room, hm. Don't worry, we didn't go through them or anything," Deidara joked.

"Thank you… Would you mind helping me unpack? I... Don't have much,"

"Of course not!"

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Unpacking didn't take long at all; after all, Hinata only had a backpack and some tied-up cloths.

It was enough for now though; she had a few changes of clothes, a sleeping bag and pillow, a small amount of food to keep for herself, things for hygiene such as a toothbrush and soap, her wallet, and some general ninja equipment.

"That seems to be everything, hm," Deidara was able to find a few useful extra things, such as a clock and calendar. "Now… About the hideout itself," He was finally ready to explain. "See, it's been over a year since our leader got taken out… We've had to stay hidden. Now, we had a lot of hideouts already, but they were eventually going to get found,"

"But what about this one?"

"As I said, it's special, hm… Now, none of us really understand HOW he did it, but… Believe it or not, Tobi made this,"

"Wait… Made?"

"Well, I guess we all made it, but you'll get what I mean. We were arguing about what to do, when Tobi said he could make us a permanent hideout. But we had to build it first… It was a pretty long project, look several months in an underground cave… Thankfully we were able to grow the trees for lumber at will thanks to Zetsu… That old member I was talking about, hm… But once we were done, Tobi did some crazy jutsu and made the damn thing vanish. Of course, we were pretty pissed… But then he made it, well, reappear

"Wait… Reappear?"

"I told you, it's special," Deidara grinned. "He essentially made the hideout a summon; he can get rid of it and put it wherever he wants, and everything is completely intact, hm!"

"…A house you can summon… Wow…" These were powerful ninja indeed…

"We've moved the place around a lot already… We set it up here about a month ago," He continued. "And no, I'm not exactly sure how he got it partially inside the mountain… But it seems fine, hm… There are a LOT of weird jutsu out there…" He paused. "Well, that's about it! Welcome to our little family, Hinata Hyuga," Deidara finished his little tour. "And don't worry; you'll get a chance to get more of your things from your old home soon enough, hm,"

Hinata looked surprised at this statement.

"W-what do you mean?"

"Well, you're not going to stay cooped up in here forever! We go places all the time for supplies and stuff… We can go back to Konoha easily,"

"B-but… Isn't that risky?"

Deidara looked at her as if to say "Really?"

"Hinata, we're _S-ranked criminals_. Of course it's risky! That's why we go in disguise everywhere, hm,"

Hinata blushed a bit, realizing how silly the question sounded.

"But look… We'll want to make sure you can stay hidden first, understand?"

"…Yes…" Hinata paused. "Wait, does that mean you're going to… Train me?"

"Well of course!" Deidara exclaimed as if it were obvious. "We may not be teachers, but we are certainly experienced… I think most of the others would be more than willing to train you. You'll need to keep up with us after all, hm,"

Once again, Hinata realized she was essentially going to be with these men for life…

"Besides, I'm sure we can train you better than any of those losers in Konoha ever could," He assured her. "And you want to get stronger, right?"

Hinata's looked at the floor.

"…Yes… I really need to improve…"

"…Hey, I didn't mean…"

"No, you're right," Hinata interrupted him. "I'm… Well, I should be a lot better than I am," She admitted. "I'm… Well I'm not a Hyuga anymore, but I still have the Bakugan… My cousin is already a Jonin, and he's barely older than me…"

"Well look, by the time we're done training you, you'll make him look like a damn Genin!" Deidara said enthusiastically. Hinata laughed a bit.

Maybe she could finally get stronger after all…

"Speaking of Konoha…" Deidara changed subjects. "It's not going to be long before your absence is noticed, hm,"

Hinata didn't even think of this; it was already the next day. They were bound to notice her being gone soon.

…And a part of her wanted to see everyone's reaction… Her father's, her sensei's…

And especially Naruto's…

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"Thanks again for the food!" Naruto Uzumaki finished paying off his (Large) bill at his favorite place in Konoha, Ichiraku Ramen. "Alright, time for some more training!"

"Hey, Naruto!"

"Hm?" Naruto turned to see Kiba and Akamaru running up to him. The former seemed a bit worried. "What's up?"

"Have you seen Hinata at all today?"

Naruto's mind froze up for a bit.

Hinata…

He had tried to forget about what happened yesterday… God did felt so stupid…

"No, I haven't seen her since…"

"Right," The rest of Naruto's friends were aware of what had happened, both the rejection as well as Hinata's banishment.

"Why, have you not seen her either?"

"Not since we got back from our mission. And nobody else has seen her either,"

"Rrrruff!" Akamaru, Kiba's enormous dog, barked.

"And he can't pick up a recent sent!" Kiba added.

"Oh man… Do you think she…"

"I don't see where else she'd be,"

Shit…

"We need to tell Grandma Tsunade, now!"

"Right!"

The trio immediately headed for the Hokage's office. Naruto silently cursed himself along with way.

Did he really make Hinata run away?

And more importantly… Was she okay?

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That's another chapter down! Sorry it was mostly detail and description, but I wanted to give everyone a good idea of what the place looks like. Thanks for reading, and be sure to review! Until next time.


	7. Reflection and Doubt

Don't think I forgot again, just had some holiday fun for the past few days. Let's get to it.

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_Sploosh!_

A splash erupted from the lake as Hinata threw another rock. Rings rippled out from where the rock landed, disrupting the normally still waters.

It hadn't been too long since she was shown around the place; maybe an hour or two at most. Once she was unpacked, she had spent some times getting a little better acquainted with her new… "friends". And while she was certainly still a little nervous around them, she at least managed to feel comfortable enough to stop stuttering so much when they were all in a room together.

She still couldn't get over how… Human they all were. Hinata had heard practically nothing about them except for stories of how horrific they were. And while Kakuzu, Hidan, and Itachi certainly seemed a bit cold (Although Hidan at least showed some emotion…), she may have never guessed any of them were such notorious criminals.

_Much friendly than father anyways_.

Hinata paused at her own thought, and then sighed. This was the reason she had come over to the forest… Home was still on her mind.

While she wouldn't quite say she was unhappy here as of yet, she was finally starting to realize how rash of a decision she had made to run away… She had been sitting at the lake for awhile, reflecting on everything that had happened.

And wondering if she had made the right choice in running…

Her father had certainly been the major factor… Not just for kicking her out of her own home, but for the stress and strain he had been putting on her for a while. It had caused her to start acting differently around her friends, which was likely why many of them were beginning to lose some patience with her.

Tenten, for example, would often make fun of her about her "Daddy Issues" and how she should try to deal with real problems some time. Even her relationship with Neji had suffered a bit. Kiba and Shino were especially affected due to her mission performance…

It all came back to her father… Could she really have kept living with him, even if she hadn't been kicked out? Maybe it was for the best…

But… Naruto…

What happened with Naruto had nothing to do with her father. It was just about her. How long had he thought that about her? Had he been friendly just out of pity? Did he think something was wrong with her and felt bad for her or something?

Hinata felt her eyes water. She quickly rubbed them, not wanting to cry at the moment.

_He inspired you so much, and that's all he thought of you?_

And what if some of her other friends felt that way too? Was she a weirdo to them to?

_Sploosh!_

Hinata yelped as a sudden splash broke the silence of her thoughts. She frantically looked around, trying to find the source.

She nearly fainted when he turned to see 2 bright red eyes staring at her.

"I-Itachi…!" She squeaked, backing up. "When…"

"My apologies, Miss Hyuga," The Uchiha calmly excused himself as he backed up a bit. You're your rock throwing interrupted my meditation," Hinata blushed a bit.

"S-sorry, I…"

"It's no trouble… But it seems I am interrupting you as well,"

"Oh, n-no you… I was just…"

"Thinking of home?"

Hinata paused, looking towards the lake.

"…Yes… How did you-

"It's clearly been on your mind since you got here…"

_Well, he is also from Konoha… He may understand_.

"I just… I'm not sure if I miss it or not…"

"Well, you certainly have more reason than most of us," Hinata looked at him, trying to avoid his eyes. "You see, most of us left our villages because we were against our villages themselves. We did not regret our actions because we were often branded traitors or outcasts… You, though… You ran because of more personal reasons, not because of Konoha itself,"

Hinata thought about this for a moment.

"That may be, but… My house, my father… They were a lot of the village to me…"

"Them and Naruto,"

Hinata shut her eyes.

"…Yes, and him," She paused again. "But… I'm wondering if I made a mistake running from it all. I… Wasn't thinking clearly when I did,"

"You were under a great deal of emotional strain,"

"…To put it lightly, yes," She suddenly looked him in the eye. "What did you feel when you left?"

"Hmph. You know we left under very different circumstances," Itachi reminded her. "But, to answer your question… It took some time to really know what to think. In your case… Did you make a rash and impulsive decision? Yes. But you had no way of knowing _this_ would happen," He suddenly turned to go. As he began walking, he turned back. "Whether or not you made the wrong choice will ultimately be up to you to decide… But ask yourself: Would you truly have been happy if you had stayed?"

With that, the Uchiha left Hinata to her thoughts. The Hyuga looked back at the lake.

"Would I really have been happy...?"

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"Look, she could still be somewhere around here. We'll have some people take a look around, but let's not jump to conclusions. If you absolutely cannot find her, we'll begin to form search parties immediately,"

"Got it grandma!"

Tsunade sighed deeply as Kiba and Naruto left her office.

_Hinata Hyuga… Missing?_

The two had recently come to her office proclaiming that Hinata had possibly run away. After explaining the events of yesterday and how she was nowhere to be found, Tsunade could see why she might run…

"Shizune!" She suddenly called out.

"Yes, Lady Tsunade!" Tsunade's attendant, quickly appeared in the doorway.

"Send for Hiashi Hyuga if you would… I'd like a word with him," Shizune nodded, having heard the conversation, and left without a word.

Tsunade went back to her paperwork for the moment. If Hinata really had run off, there's no telling what danger she could be in… There were plenty of rogue ninja who would easily see the value in a Hyuga heiress…

_Including them…_

Tsunade paused as she thought of this. While there was still no recent evidence or information, they couldn't be too sure… Konoha teams were still investigating wherever they could.

While the rest of Konoha didn't know, Tsunade and other high-ranking officials had secret teams out there, searching for anything leading to the Akatsuki. No evidence had been found to indicate the others were dead… But the village didn't need to know that.

Even Naruto didn't know…

"Well, what are the chances of her running into them…" She said to herself. For all she knew, they really could be gone.

But still… It was a possibility. Very unlikely, but possible…

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Hinata didn't stay in the forest much longer once Itachi left.

Ultimately, she had come to the conclusion that she likely wouldn't have been happy in Konoha… At least, not for a while.

But still, would she end up being happier here? Would she have been happier anywhere? That she didn't know. Whether or not she had made the right choice would remain to be seen…

As she exited the room, she heard what sounded like arguing from the living room. As she got closer, she began to realize what it was about.

She was thankful she was so sick of crying, because as the argument continued, she began to see worse and worse about herself…

_Well, they were right…_

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"Wait, you want us to _what?_"

"I thought it was pretty clear, hm…"

"You know what I meant!"

"Look, Hidan…"

"No, he's right… You could have asked us first,"

"See? You even got Kakuzu agreeing with me!"

"Look, I thought…"

"We don't exactly have teaching experience, you know," Sasori cut in, an annoyed tone in his voice. "Didn't that occur to you at all?"

It had been a few hours since Deidara had showed Hinata around. According to Itachi, who had recently entered the room, she was in the forest room at the moment. As long as she wasn't around to listen, he had decided to bring up the idea of training her to the others.

Needless to say, it hadn't gone over as well as he had hoped.

"Well… Of course it did! But come on, how hard could it be?"

"It's not a question of whether or not we can do it," Sasori said. "We've got enough to worry about as it is just trying to survive and stay hidden,"

"We've been hidden for over a year, hm. What makes you think we'll suddenly be found now?"

"Because…" Itachi suddenly spoke, causing everyone to look over. "Hinata's absence will surely spark a reaction from Konoha,"

"Konoha? So what?" Deidara shrugged. "It's not like we've had any problems-

"Oh come on Deidara," Hidan groaned "You know as well as any of us that they've still got people out there searching for us. We hit their village hard; they have no evidence to suggest any of us are really dead,"

Deidara sighed.

"I… I get that, hm," He flopped down into a chair, shaking his head a bit. "But what makes you think they'll link that to us?"

"Nothing in particular, but we can't count the possibility out," Sasori pointed out. "Look, the point is we've got enough on our plates right now,"

There was a small pause. Deidara looked around, trying to see if anyone was on his side. His eyes set on Tobi and Kisame, who were both sitting on one of the couches, their postures implying boredom.

"Well, what about you two? You haven't said anything yet, hm,"

The pair looked at each other.

"No comments here. I'm not getting dragged into this," Kisame said, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head.

"Thanks, you guys are a big help," Deidara rolled his eyes as Kisame just grinned.

"Well, I don't see why we can't," Tobi said. "I mean, don't you guys want to spend some time with a girl for once?"

EVERYONE rolled their eyes at this.

"If you're not going to take this seriously…" Deidara decided to ignore the two, diverting his attention to the others. "Look, I'm not asking to devote all our time to her, damn it, just…"

"Look, it was tough enough convincing everyone here to even let her stay and you know it," Sasori interrupted. "And we're all still on board with that, don't get me wrong… But this?"

"Yeah, this is a bit too much," Hidan said in agreement. Deidara growled a bit, his patience running out. "Oh don't give me that look! You heard her before. The whole reason she got kicked out of her home was because she wasn't good enough!"

"He's right," Kakuzu spoke again. "It's half the reason she ran away, remember? She simply can't seem to keep up with her training,"

"Exactly! If it's really as bad as she says she is…"

"Guys, don't be so hard on her…"

"I'm being realistic, damn it!" Hidan shouted.

"We can't just ignore what she said, Deidara," Sasori paused. "I mean, you're completely welcome to do it yourself…"

"I… I can't teach her some things as well as some of you," Deidara admitted. Sasori smirked.

"Never thought I'd see you be so humble," He joked. "But you need to be realistic; if she really has that much trouble, training her will be a long and difficult process. And we simply can't take the time to do that,"

"Now hold on," Kisame suddenly spoke up. "You're saying the only reason we're not going to help her is because she _might_ be too difficult to train?"

Hidan, Kakuzu, and Sasori all looked at each other.

"Well… Yes. I saw her fight myself; she wasn't completely helpless, but… It wasn't great,"

"Well, why not say it to her?" Kisame said, nodding towards the doorway.

Everyone looked over to see Hinata reluctantly standing in the doorway to the training area. A look of melancholy on her face.

"…How long were you standing there…?" Sasori sighed as he turned to face her.

"…L-long enough…" Hinata anwered quietly. Deidara took a step towards her.

"Look, Hinata, I…"

"N-no, don't…" She cut him off as she came down the stairs. "…Yo-You're all right about me…"

"Look, sorry we… It's nothing personal, we just…" Hidan paused, trying to find a less blunt way of explaining.

"Don't apologize, please," Hinata interrupted. "Look, Deidara… I-I really appreciate you doing this… But I don't want to get in the way of everyone here…"

Hinata had been looking forward to training, true… But the realities of her abilities and the progress (Or lack thereof) she had been making lately couldn't be ignored.

"Hinata, don't talk like that, hm," Deidara looked at the others as if to say "Don't say anything".

"And why shouldn't I?" Hinata's voice rose a bit. "I know my own strength, Deidara. You don't have to pretend like you think I'm a good fighter,"

"That's where you're wrong,"

Everyone turned to look at Itachi.

"Wh-what?"

"I said you're wrong," Itachi rose. "See, I don't actually think you DO know your own strength…" He continued. "I think you're father's talk has made you doubt yourself more than you should,"

"What are you going on about now?" Hidan groaned.

"Oh shut up for once, Hidan," Kisame said sternly. "He's right. Look, Sasori and Deidara are the only ones here who have actually seen her fight… And that was a 3 on 1 where she got taken by surprise. Not exactly fair to judge,"

"What are you trying to say?" Sasori mirrored Hidan's question.

"I'm trying to say that we should allow Miss Hyuga to show us what she is capable of before we make any decisions,"

There was a pause as he looked at Hinata.

"…H-how would I do that…?"

"Well, there are many wa-

"Simple! I'll fight you,"

Everyone quickly looked at Kisame as he said this, a grin on his face. "Yeah, we'll have a little fight to test you!" Hinata's face was completely flushed of color, her eyes wide. "Don't look so frightened," He chuckled. "I won't go all out or anything. Just a friendly little spar to see what you can do,"

"Now Kisame, do you think-

"Hey, you all said you were worried she'd be too difficult to train. I say if she can do well enough against me, you've got no excuses,"

Hinata was silent as she processed the idea.

Fight… Fight an Akatsuki? _Spar_ with one of the most dangerous ninja ever? Just to show them how awful she was?

…_No…_

A sudden confident voice rang out in her head.

_Maybe he's right… Maybe Father has kept you down…_

Hinata was still unsure about whether or not she had made the right choice in running, but… Perhaps doing this would give her an answer?

If she could actually show them she was worth something…

"Kisame…" Deidara started to protest. "Her injuries haven't completely healed, don't you think…"

"N-no…"

Everyone turned to look at Hinata, who was now looking at the floor. Her hands clenched into fists. "I…I feel fine," She looked Kisame straight in the eye, a look of determination in her eyes. "I'll do it,"

Kisame laughed, clapping his hands together.

"Excellent! We can do it right now!" He exclaimed as he headed for the training area. The rest of the Akatsuki murmured a bit as they all followed.

Hinata was close behind. True, her wounds were still hurting a little, but she couldn't let that keep her down. She had to prove to these men that she was worth training, that she was strong enough.

…But more importantly, she had to prove it to herself!

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Few! That was a bit longer than the others. Hope you all enjoyed! Next time, action starts!


	8. Proving Herself

Back again! Apologies for the later update, but I'm back at the university so updates will be less frequent now. Still, I'll try not to leave you hanging too long if I can help it.

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"I still don't know about this Kisame…"

"Oh relax Deidara, she said she's willing to go through with it,"

The group had entered the sparring area. Hinata and Kisame were warming up in preparation for the fight.

"I bet she goes down in the first minute," Hidan muttered.

"How much?" Kakuzu inquired as Hidan rolled his eyes.

"It's an expression,"

"Yes, but if you wanted to put some money on-

"_No._"

Meanwhile, Hinata's heart was racing. He mind buzzed with questions. Could she really go through with this? How long could she really last? What chance did she have against one of the most dangerous ninja around?

"Hey, you ready yet?"

"Oh, um… Y-yes…" Hinata nervously stepped forward, visibly shaking a bit.

"Hey, hey… Relax," Kisame chuckled. "I told you I'll go easy," As he said this, he took the massive sword from his back, placing it on the ground. "Hands only, see?"

Hinata nodded, grateful she would at least last a little longer…

She wanted to stop, wanted to say she wasn't ready to do this… But she knew she couldn't. She had to show both these men and herself that she was willing to do this.

Still, keeping that confidence up was tough given her opponent.

"Let's get to it then," Kisame got into a fighting pose. Hinata nodded, quickly activating her Bakugan as she took a stance as well. Despite her shakiness, a look of determination was on her face. Kisame grinned. "Ready…?"

Suddenly, he dashed to her.

"GO!" He shouted, throwing the first punch. Hinata was barely able to avoid the hit. She paused for a half second trying to figure out where to strike before aiming for a point on Kisame's chest.

Unfortunately, that half-second was enough time for Kisame to react. He quickly dodged the hit before countering with his own, knocking Hinata off her feet.

_I knew that was the wrong move…_

"Don't hesitate," Kisame said as she quickly got up. He had noticed her miniscule pause.

Hinata readied herself again. Moments like that were common for her… She had a tendency of second-guessing her tactics for a brief second.

"Pay attention now!" Hinata gasped as she was struck down again. It wasn't necessary a hard hit, but it had knocked her off her feet. "Come on, you gotta focus!"

Hidan smirked. "Like I said…"

"She doesn't seem to be in the right mindset," Sasori commented.

Hinata rose again, this time deciding to attack. She readied herself a third time as she quickly decided on what to strike at. It was a special order of hits her father had taught her.

_That father said you can't do right…_

As Hinata charged at her opponent, these thoughts lingered. She quickly struck out at various chakra points… All of which Kisame dodged. Realizing the plan didn't work, she frantically began trying to avoid Kisame's own hits.

_Think, think… What did father tell you to do?_

"Ah!"

A rather hard blow hit Hinata's side, causing her to stumble back.

"Her reaction seems slow…" Kakuzu muttered.

"She still doesn't seem completely focused," Itachi spoke up. "She's fighting 2 battles right now…"

3 times.

3 times, she had already been hit. Any real fight and she easily would have been finished by now…

She rose, albeit slower this time. The hits were starting to get to her.

She couldn't just give up, but the realities of her fighting abilities were setting in again. Her father's comments echoed through her head.

_Weak._

She clenched her fists, trying to shake off the thoughts as she prepared to fight again.

Kisame took the initiative again, but Hinata was ready this time. The two struck at each other, each dodging the other's hits.

As Hinata quickly weaved between Kisame's blows, more thoughts slowly crept into her head. She tried to push them back, tried to focus on the fight, but her doubts were too much.

Again she was distracted for just a millisecond too long; Kisame landed several blows.

As Hinata hit the ground yet again, she tasted blood on her lip.

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"You KNEW!?" Tsunade cried. "And you didn't try to stop her?"

"As I said, it was her decision to make,"

"Don't you realize what could happen out there? She's a young woman! An heiress to a powerful family?"

"WAS an heiress,"

Tsunade glared at the man in front of her desk. Hiashi Hyuga was proving… Difficult to talk to.

"That title now belongs to Hanabi," He paused. "But, despite what may have been said, Hinata is still a Hyuga. She may be… Lacking in skill, but she is capable enough to survive. She could have just gone straight to another town,"

"I still don't understand… Your own daughter, Hiashi,"

"I have no doubt she will return in time," Hiashi said calmly. "If anything this may be… Well, a learning experience for her,"

Tsunade scoffed.

"Perhaps being on her own is what she needs to develop herself. If that's what it will take for her to finally be worthy of her title, so be it,"

Tsunade could not believe his words; Hinata seemed nothing more than a symbol to him.

"However…" He continued. "There are dangers out there, and your concerns are certainly justified. I will not argue with you searching for her," He paused. "She… She is still my daughter,"

For a moment, Tsunade actually could hear some regret in his voice.

"I'll begin arranging search parties right away. Did she give any indication where she was going?"

"Not at all. Though she had very limited supplies, so she will have to stop somewhere soon enough,"

"Well, it's something… Alright, that's enough,"

With nothing else to say, Hiashi left. Tsunade got to work.

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Hinata attempted to catch her breath yet again. Sweat trickled down the side of her face.

She had been continuously getting thrown to the ground for about 15 minutes now, and it was getting more and more difficult to get back up each time.

Partly because the injuries were starting to get to her, but partly out of embarrassment.

There were some offers to stop, but Hinata refused; she had made a decision, and she was determined to keep it.

At the moment though, she had been on the ground for a while. Her spirit finally seemed to be waning.

"Honestly, this is getting embarrassing…" Hidan grumbled. "Kisame, why don't we stop?"

"Hey, until she says she wants to stop, we keep going,"

"Yes, you said that last time, but…"

"Well then maybe you should listen,"

Kisame looked back to Hinata. He could see in the way she was fighting that she still wasn't serious; something was distracting her, making her hesitate…

Of course, he didn't know WHAT it was, but he was determined to wait until she was able to shake it off.

It was, of course, all the thoughts in her head. All the doubts from her father and herself that had been plaguing her mind since the fight started.

This happened every time she tried to fight… As it went on and on, she just felt worse and worse.

"I don't understand, hm…" To Deidara, the fight had been difficult to watch.

"It's her," Itachi said. Deidara looked at him. "You can see it in the way she fights,"

Deidara thought about the things she had said earlier. He thought about her lack of confidence, her recent failures she talked about, her relationship with her father…

Suddenly, he understood what was needed.

"Hinata!" He suddenly shouted. "

"Oh please…" Hidan rolled his eyes.

"You know what I saw in those woods last night? I saw a Hinata that nearly fought off 3 trained ninja. For a moment, I saw her beat back 3 ninja so much they had to resort to ninjutsu, hm!" He paused. "You only lost that fight because of all the shit on your mind from the village. You gotta stop thinking about that! Kisame's right, Hinata, you don't know what you're capable of. You've heard enough of your father's bullshit that you're starting to believe it!" He stopped again; he was actually panting a bit from shouting so much. "Your father's wrong, alright!? You're that one gets to decide how strong you are. I want to see the Hinata I saw for a second last night. I want to see a Hinata that doesn't have to fight herself more than her opponents, hm!"

Everyone was silent for a moment as they stared at Deidara.

"…I'm sorry about that, I just…"

Hinata continued to lie on the ground after Deidara's speech. As he spoke, she felt something amidst all the doubt in her mind.

SOMEONE believed in her…

And as he continued, the thoughts that clouded her mind started to vanish.

Come to think of it, she had only stopped improving once her father began getting harsher on her. She only got worse the more stern he got.

Hinata struggled to her feet.

"Well then…" Kisame grinned. Something was different about her…

She readied herself again, Bakugan ready.

No more doubts. No more Father. No more distractions. If only for a moment, Hinata was going to let her mind be clear.

…_Okay, Deidara. I'll show you that Hinata._

Kisame went at her again. She evaded once again, and immediately countered.

This time, it hit.

Kisame felt a sharp pain as a chakra point was struck. The sudden feeling of being hit stunned him for a split second.

This time, Hinata took advantage.

Kisame felt even more points get struck, increasing the pain for a moment. A final powerful palm blow sent him back, staggering. Hinata went at him again, but he was ready this time.

Kisame dodged several quick hits, finding it tougher to find places to counter. Every hit he tried to make was dodged. For a solid 15 seconds the two avoided the other.

Meanwhile, the others looked with mouths agape. Deidara especially was mesmerized as Hinata almost seemed to dance between Kisame's attacks.

She was turning battle into art… Magnificent.

When someone finally made a mistake, it was Kisame to get hit to the ground.

"Holy shit!" Hidan cried. "Deidara, I don't know what you did…"

"Simple: he gave her what she needed," Itachi calmly remarked. He nodded at the blonde. "Confidence,"

By now Kisame was on his feet, and he was laughing.

"So I guess we've finally started!"

Hinata said nothing; her expression was that of fierce determination. Any thoughts that began creeping into her head were forced out. With her head clear, she could see everything more clearly. Time seemed to slow down a little when she and Kisame were clashing.

She finally felt like she was really fighting.

"Well, what do you say we take this up a notch…" Kisame suddenly reached down and picked up his sword.

"Woah woah woah!" Hidan cried. "That seems a bit excessive, doesn't i-

"No,"

Kisame grinned as Hinata spoke.

"I can handle it,"

Of course she was a bit nervous, but she wasn't about to let that stop her.

"Well… Come on then!" Kisame charged, as did Hinata. Dodging a sword was certainly different, but Hinata quickly adapted. There was a flurry of white as the bandaged blade swung back and forth, each blow narrowly missing the young Hyuga.

"Knew I should have taken that bet…" Kakuzu murmured.

The fight went on for another 5 minutes or so. Hinata continued to assault Kisame's pressure points, each blow hurting more than the last. Kisame managed to strike her once or twice with Samehada, but they were very minor hits that only knocked Hinata off her feet for a brief moment.

Kisame could feel it becoming harder and harder to move his arms; the points she had hit were cutting off a lot of chakra to them. Granted, if he was truly going all-out this wouldn't be an issue, but that wouldn't be fair to her.

Still, he was certainly trying, and he was certainly impressed.

However, he finally did manage to land a solid hit with his sword on Hinata. She was sent flying across the room, rolling across the floor.

While it wasn't enough to do any serious damage, Kisame paused to make sure she was alright. There was a moment of struggle, but she rose to her feet.

Kisame grinned again when she readied herself.

_She has heart alright… I think that's enough._

Much to Hinata's surprise, Kisame suddenly sheathed his weapon.

"What are you…"

"We're done," He said. Hinata looked confused.

"But I can still…"

"Oh, I can see that," Kisame's grin widened. "But I think we've done enough," He looked at the stunned Akatsuki. "I think you've proven your point,"

Hinata looked over at the others, almost laughing when she saw their expressions.

Sasori was the first to speak.

"…Alright, so I was wrong," He admitted. "I mean, there are certainly flaws, but you are but a chunin…" He looked at the others, who nodded. "And frankly, we don't have an excuse anymore… Alright Deidara, you win,"

"You mean…"

"He means we're gonna train you after all," Hidan interrupted. "Because by Jashin that was some damn good fighting for someone your level,"

Hinata blushed. She also winced; the pain was starting to really set in.

"Why don't we get her patched up," Kisame suggested. "She took a beating before…"

"And STILL managed to fight like that," Hidan shook his head. "You know, I don't like admitting I'm wrong often but..."

As the group set to leave, Deidara and Hinata looked at each other for a moment. They stared at each other for a moment until Hinata mouthed 2 words silently.

"Thank you."

With that, she slowly made her way to the door.

The fight had changed her. She finally felt like she was worth something again. She finally felt like a true ninja.

Her father finally was out of her mind.

_You are not my daughter._

As Hinata left the room, she felt a smirk on her face.

No… She wasn't his daughter anymore, was she? Her old life was done. Her life as a Hyuga, as a Konoha ninja, that was done. Her new life as an Akatsuki started today.

And it was a life she was looking forward to.

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Well, that's done! Hopefully you enjoyed, and hopefully I can update soon!


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